When this post publishes I will probably be a few thousand feet in the *hopefully* blue sky on the way to San Diego for BlogHer ’11.  The irony for me during this year’s World Breastfeeding Week is that for half of it I’ll be on the other side of the country and away from my nursling.

140.25 Ounces of Blood, Sweat, and Tears

As a psuedo Attached Parent this is a logistical and emotional nightmare. I pumped virtually every single day for 30 days to make sure my baby would have enough of my milkshake for 4 days.  I was aiming for the low number of 100 but I made it to 140.25 ounces of liquid gold.  It would have been 144.25 ounces but one of my bags mysteriously leaked out.  I may have cried.  I seperated my milk into freezer bags with about 29 ounces in each bag, one per day.  And then there is another bag with 25 ounces extra in case he needs it.  I got that tip from a Twitter user and it is a fabulous one!

Everett has always taken a bottle so thankfully that is not an issue.  My first son never took a bottle, ever.  This meant I was never away from him more than 2 hours at a time for the entire first year and beyond).  Still I have never left Fletcher for more than 8 hours and I’ve really never left him overnight either.  I even gave birth at home to avoid that for crying outloud!

I trust that my chunky monkey will take his bottles and even eat solids to stay alive.  Thank Goodness for small miracles.

My heart

But here is the kicker: he sleeps in bed with me every night and has since he was born.  Sure he spent a few hours here and there in his hammock, Mamaroo, or crib- but the majority of his nights are in the crook of my arm.  He has slept wonderfully since day one.  He sleeps all night starting at 7:30- 8:30 pm until 6:30- 8:00 am.  He wakes to eat then turns his head and falls back asleep.  I can count the number of times I’ve had to get out of bed to get him back to sleep on my fingers and toes (he is a baby afterall).  If it weren’t for co-sleeping I know I would have lost a lot more sleep.  That is all well and good until you take me out of the equation.

I need your help! What have you done when you leave your co-sleeping, Exclusively Breastfed baby home with Daddy? Did Daddy sleep with the baby in your bed?  Did he rock the baby back to sleep each time they woke and put them back in the crib?  Did the baby demand a middle of the night bottle?  I am so clueless…

My husband is a deep sleeper and refuses to sleep with Everett since he is so young.  He will sleep with Fletcher when the rarity occurs that he ends up in our bed.

I’m hoping you, my wonderful and knowledgable readers, will offer your nuggets of wisdom to my husband.  I have instructed him to read this post and comment/ ask questions if he needs to. A part of me thinks he has no idea what he is getting into but the other part is confident he can handle it.  He has really grown into a wonderful father.  I don’t think I would have considered this when my first son was 9 months old even if he did take a bottle.  That is probably more to do with my first time mom jitters than anything but I definitely see how much hubby has grown in the 2.5 years he has been a dad.

I’m leaving him with a long list of cloth diaper washing instructions, breastmilk storage, heating, and handling instructions, the boy’s (general) nap and bedtime schedule, and a house full of clean clothes/diapers.  I’ll also be leaving him with my Boba for Everett.  It is my manliest and best fitting carrier for him.

If there is any silver lining to being away from a nursing baby for 4 days during World Breastfeeding Week it is that I will be able to donate my pumped milk to another mother through Eats on Feets.  I’ve never donated milk before but I am thrilled that my liquid gold won’t be going down a drain.

Wish me luck on my first trip away from my family (and hopefully last for a long time.)

A HUGE THANK YOU to Swaddlebees and Boba for their generous sponsorship that is getting me to BlogHer and to the other companies making my boobies weigh less, look perkier, and be more productive!  Much love coming at ya!

A few weeks ago I was in downright denial that I would be bringing another human being into this world.  Perhaps because he delayed his arrival for so long that I didn’t feel it was ever going to happen.  Or maybe because my pregnancy was so easy I often forgot I was, even at 30+ weeks.

I couldn’t deny labor when it started with a bang, and on October 20, 2010 I gave birth at home to my second son, Everett.  It was amazing!

I have had over 6 weeks to get used to life with two children.  And my son has also had time to adjust to being a big brother.  I think some kids were born to be siblings and Fletcher is one.  He is the most caring, loving, attentive big brother.  When he hears Everett cry he says “baby” and wants to run over to help.  His helping consists of patting, rubbing, kissing, or saying “awww.”  It makes my heart melt every time.

Somehow, having a brother has also made my toddler a better behaved boy.  He naps easier and for longer stretches.  He sleeps all night again (mostly).  He plays alone more often.  Of course, he gets into trouble, but this is to be expected of a 2 year old!

There was a part of me that was terrified of having another baby.  In the planning stages it seemed like a wonderful idea and I could think of nothing more than getting pregnant, having that growing baby inside me, and giving birth, then breastfeeding another little human.  But the closer I got to delivery, the more hesitations arose.  I still felt like my toddler needed me so much.  He nursed until I was 20 weeks pregnant and weaned at around 18 months.  He took it very well which made me sad.  Still, he was my little baby.  I soaked up the final weeks with him and cuddled him every chance I got.

I also had a weird fear that I wouldn’t want to nurse this baby.  This baby was foreign to me.  I loved my nursing time with Fletcher.  I especially loved co-sleeping with him.  With the new baby coming we had to get him in his own bed.  It was a struggle for us both.  I still want to have him sleep with us.  If I had a king size bed I would.

The new baby was changing the dynamics of our entire family in ways I didn’t anticipate so early on.  It is hard to imagine when your baby is still so young when you become pregnant again what they will be doing in 9 months.  Will they be eating independently with utensils?  Will they walk alongside you?  Will they sleep all night by then?  Will they still be nursing?

As far as the new baby, Everett, he has shown me many things.  First of all, he has proved to me that no two babies are the same, even if they do look a LOT alike.

Fletcher had a terrible latch and had to be taught to nurse.  He was 3 months old when I decided we had things down pat.  Everett was tongue tied but as soon as his tongue was clipped he was a pro.  We had it down pat at 1.5 weeks, and only due to the clipping.  Had he not been tongue tied I think we would have had it on day 1.

But even though he is a great latcher, he only nurses for food.  He does not nurse to sleep very often at all.  Fletcher HAD to be nursed to sleep 90% of the time and was still getting nursed to sleep until the day he weaned.  Suddenly he decided rocking was enough, and that was that.  Everett will fall asleep in my arms, but also after being laid down under the right conditions.

Everett will take a bottle of expressed breast milk!  This is a joyous discovery.  Fletcher never took one and I never left his side for over a year.  I only felt comfortable leaving him for 1, maybe 2 hours, if I did leave.  We have a babysitter come for 4 hours every Friday to let me run errands and now I know I can leave Everett with her when I need to and when I feel comfortable.

Also, Everett began smiling very early, at 3 weeks and 2 days, and now smiles a lot!  Fletcher didn’t start until he was almost 3 months.  Fletcher is still a serious child, maybe Everett will be a little more fun loving?

As for life with two, I think I have adjusted very well.  I assumed I would be stressed and super busy all the time, which is kinda of true, but not in a “I can’t handle this” sort of way.  There are days when Everett is screaming and Fletcher is whining and I want to crawl in a hole and disappear.  But, most days, I enjoy having both very much and think it is better than just one.  I change a lot more diapers and clean a lot more puke, wash a lot more clothes, and have way less time for myself than before.  My house is also never as clean as I want it to be and it drives me nuts.

So yeah, I have created two little humans.  Crazy!

A few weeks ago I wrote about the trouble I was having getting my son to sleep the entire night in his toddler bed-“How to end Co-sleeping. Advice Needed!!!.” I WAS PLEADING FOR ADVICE!  Thankfully, tons of people (well, tons for me!) commented on my dilemma with lots of useful advice.

Many of you suggested the Supernanny tactic- this involves leading the child back to their bed and saying goodnight, and as they continue to come out of their room, you keep escorting them back over and over until they get the picture.

Others said I should put him bed in our room until he got used to sleeping in it all night, then move it back to his room.

Then there were lots of other ideas, these are just the ones I saw most frequently.

I was already sleeping in his room to get him used to sleeping in his bed all night when I posted.  This worked well, although once I started sleeping in my own room again (I slept in his room for 5 nights and he reduced his wakings and also submitted to staying in his bed, something he previously refused) and he continued to wake up once a night.

Whenever he would wake up, most nights he would not cry, but walk into our bedroom.  He wanted me to walk him back to his bed!  I did, and would sit next to him while he fell asleep.

We have tried to make this a gradual transition for him. I used to rock him to sleep and lay him in bed.  Then, I began rocking him but not letting him fall asleep.  I laid him in bed and he would make me lay next to him until he fell asleep.  I started sitting next to him rather than laying, which was a hard jump for him.  He wanted to be cuddled while he was falling asleep.  After a few nights of crying he let me begin sitting next to him.  Also, I did try the Supernanny techinique and it worked one night!  However, the next night he was so upset I sat next to him after many times of him walking out and crying.  This basically allowed me to just sit next to him.  He figured it was either let me sit next to him, or have him cry and have no Mommy at all.  He made a wise choice.

Now, I have moved from sitting next to him on the bed to sitting on the ottoman a few feet away.  We still start out in the glider.   We read a ton of books, we rock and he puts his head on my chest (and if I am wearing a high necked shirt he pulls it down so he is skin to skin!).  I sing to him and then tell him I am laying him in bed.  He then grabs his monkey which he always shoves next to me in the glider, and sits up.  I carry him to bed, he rolls over on his tummy and cuddles his monkey, I cover him up, and sit on the ottoman while he falls asleep.  He will look over to make sure I am there until he falls asleep.

My next move will be to slide my seat farther from his bed, and farther still, until I am out of the door.  This is based on a famous sleep training method that I don’t know the name of!  I don’t think this would have worked a few months ago in our case, but he is old enough for it now.

Most nights he sleeps the entire night, others he wakes up once.  He easily falls back asleep as long as I put him back in bed.

This is a vast improvement to him waking at 12 from his bed to come to ours.  It has been a very long, long road to get his sleeping habits to a place where we are all relatively happy.  Daddy can even put him to bed now, something that was impossible before.  I am feeling very good about where we are at and the progress he will make.  I believe I can get him falling asleep on his own before the baby gets here.  I am also hoping he decides to sleep all night every night, but even a few nights a week is more than I was getting just a few months ago.

The sad thing is, we haven’t napped or slept together in a couple of weeks.  At first, he would come to bed for an extra 2 hours or so with us in the morning.  And occasionally I would nap with him for some snuggle time.  Now he won’t do either.  This has also made him wake up 2-3 hours earlier than normal.  It is for the best since the baby will be here very soon, but I miss my extra cuddle time so much.

I hope this method will help others who are working on transitioning their toddlers to a bed or crib from co-sleeping.  This has taken months, just like our weaning process, to keep him happy and to minimize trauma.  Thanks to everyone who had advice or just words of commiseration.  I truly appreciate it!

In my ongoing mission to make this next baby sleep better than my first child (we can dream, right?) I am reconsidering my position on swaddling.  My son loved to be swaddled.  He only slept in his crib when he was swaddled, and slept for the longest stretches when wrapped tightly.  But he didn’t want to give it up.  Once he was rolling we had to cut him off cold turkey because frankly my nerves couldn’t take it.  At the time he was *gasp* sleeping in his crib the majority of the night and I checked on him constantly for fear he rolled over and couldn’t breathe.  But the problem was that we lived in an apartment with squeaky floors.  No matter how lightly you stepped you hit a creaking floorboard and it often times that woke him up.  It was awful.  After we stopped swaddling him he woke up every few hours again, down from sleeping in 6 hour stretches.  And it just went downhill from there…. we were laying him in his crib and he fell asleep watching his aquarium, he regressed to nursing to sleep.  Then he just started sleeping with us because I was exhausted.

I am terrified the next baby will rely on swaddling and the transition will ruin him too!  In my son’s baby book he started “sleeping through the night” at a fairly young age.  Til we stopped swaddling.  Then it took him until he was a year old.  Then he stopped again.  I just can’t get an 8 hour stretch of sleep!  I understand newborns aren’t meant to sleep all night, I am ok with that.  I just want to begin healthy sleep habits to hopefully have an easier time of it this go around.  So, do I swaddle this baby and stop sooner, or stop when they are “ready,” or just not swaddle past a couple weeks?

And, what blankets should I choose?  There are a lot on the market, some which profess to be “miracles” so I am lost!  I tried two brands with my son and we liked one of those.

The Organic Woombie

Pros:

Easy to use. Highly rated.

Coms: $$$, looks like you have to remove all the way for diaper changes

The Miracle Blanket Swaddler

Pros: Supposed to hold in the wriggliest baby. Well rated.

Cons: $$$, complicated

Kiddopotamus & Co. Organic Cotton SwaddleMe

Pros: My son’s favorite, simple, inexpensive.

Cons: Velcro tabs wore out from drying.

aden + anais Swaddle Blanket

Pros: lightweight, beautiful, well rated.

Cons: $$$, traditional swaddling blanket so you actually have to “swaddle” lol

Go Mama Go Designs Snug and Tug Swaddling Blanket

Pros: cute, breathable, choice of materials

Cons: $$$, have to wrap around and then under baby

Cozy Cocoon® Organic Baby Bunting

Pros: Super adorable designs, matching hats

Cons: $$$, Put on like a sock for some models, not as easy to change diapers with,

So, any ideas?  I am so not prepared for another 2 years of sleepless nights!  I swear, 2 kids is my limit, I don’t think I can do it 3 times!

Links to DDL Affiliate Amazon.com

Visual of my acrobatic son in bed with us

I have decided that my son needs to sleep in his own bed, all night.  Not because I don’t love sleeping with him, because I do.  I love snuggling all night and waking up next to him saying a random word every morning like “uh oh” or the standard screaming of “mama, Daaadeeee!”  I need him to sleep in his own bed because in a few short months I will have a new nursling by my side in the bed.  I will also have a husband in that bed.  Our bed is a Queen, not a stately King!

Plus, lately he has been very restless at night.  He used to wake around midnight from his own bed to come to ours (at least we get a little bit if evening time alone in bed!) and sleep all night.  Now he tosses and turns and wakes so that he can put his head on my chest or place his hand in between my boobs.  You read correctly; he likes to put his hand down my shirt in my cleavage for comfort.  This is a little thing that developed after he weaned.  He still loves my boobs but they have a new purpose.  Being that I am pregnant, him moving and kicking and doing acrobatics next to me has gotten very uncomfortable and a little scary.

Sleeping with his hands down my shirt

Since he falls asleep with me rocking him or with me laying next to him in his own bed I have a head start.  He knows he goes “nite nite” in his bed.  He has never fallen asleep on his own but he definitely knows the routine.  I just have no clue how to get him to accept that his bed is his home for the entire night.  I have tried many times to get him back to sleep once he wakes up in his bed.  It works, but he wakes up shortly after I leave and then points to the door screaming.  He wants to be in OUR bed.  I give in and we all get a good night’s rest.

For the past 2 nights I have slept on the floor next to his bed on a couch cushion.  As soon as he wakes I try to comfort him back to sleep.  So far he has crawled out of bed and onto the floor with me.  I have to put him back in his bed.  The only way he falls back asleep is if I am in bed next to him.  Even worse, he has spidey senses and knows when I leave.  I have to wait until he is deeply asleep before getting up and going back to my floor pallet.  If I were with him he would sleep the rest of the night but he knows I am not and wakes again.  This time he won’t let me slip away.  No matter how ninja like I escape after he falls back asleep he will wake up.  So for these two nights I have actually slept in a short twin bed with my son.  I have to curl up because it isn’t long enough for my body.  Often times I am relegated to a small section since my son hogs the bed.

This isn’t solving our problem.  Now I am co-sleeping in a short twin bed.  I would rather co-sleep in my comfy queen!!!  I feel like doing this has to say something.  It says “You are not allowed back in my bed for sleeping.  You will sleep in your own bed.”  But how do I get him to let me leave him?  I try shhushing him to sleep, patting, etc, things that don’t have me IN bed with him but after the 2nd waking he has none of those.  I know I have to do this now before I am too pregnant to do it later, and of course before his brother arrives.  Co-sleeping with a restless 2 year old, newborn, Mommy, and Daddy is not going to work for this family.  Sorry!

I would love any advice from those who have been in a similar situation.  Or just words of sympathy for the pregnant lady sleeping on the floor/ in a toddler bed!

While pregnant with my son Fletcher, I had a dream.  In this dream I was in my glider rocking my newborn baby boy.  He was in my arms, beautiful, wrinkly, sweet, and perfect in every way.  And, I was nursing him.  It was the most wonderful dream…. we seemed so happy and breastfeeding was natural for us.  I woke up excited about this particular aspect of having my son and the idea of being everything to him.  His life source before and after birth.

It seems like only yesterday I had that dream.  Today marks 7 days without nursing my son.  He weaned when he was 18 months and 5 days.

I knew it was over when I was rocking him in the glider before bed.  He had not nursed the night before so I was trying to not offer it again thinking maybe he was done.  He was crying and very upset; he didn’t want to go to bed.  I caved and offered him “milkies.”  Instead of happily agreeing he shook his head “no.”  Cue the mommy waterworks.  As much as I wanted him to be finished knowing he really was done broke my heart.  In theory, having him wean would make my life much easier.  Once I hit my second trimester my nipples became extremely sensitive.  There were many times I cried while he nursed.  He never bit me, but he does have a mouth full of teeth and one tight latch makes for a very painful experience.  Reality was a lot harder to cope with.  Realizing that I would never again bond with him in that way.  He was really done…

Our nursing journey began on a rocky road.  Latch trouble, very painful and bleeding nipples, nipple shields, lactation consultant visits, and marathon nursing sessions on the couch followed by cold gel packs and lanolin cream.

By 3 months I finally had it figured out, including the all important side lying position which transitioned us into a cosleeping family.

By 6 months I was nursing in public comfortably and proudly.

By a year I was ecstatic that we made it and was ready to go where the wind blew us.

Then I got pregnant and had to decide whether we should try weaning or tandem nursing.  At that point he was nursing on demand many times a day.  I decided to limit our sessions to a few a day.  This took about 2 weeks for him to stop signing for milk unless it was time for a nap or night time.  To get him to that point I used distractions when he would come up for a nibble.  I would offer a cup of milk or play with him, read, anything to distract him from boredom nursing.

A few weeks ago I nixed the first of the morning feeding.  This was a sad one.  I loved laying in bed with him in the morning and nursing him while cuddling.  However, out of the three a day, this was the only one I could get rid of.  He nursed to sleep for his nap and bedtime.

Then away went the nap nursing session.  I rocked him to sleep without nursing him which was a gradual transition.

I felt sure I would be nursing him to sleep every night, however.  We tried having Daddy rock him to sleep but even if he did get him asleep he could never get him into bed without him waking up.  So he would come to me them want to nurse.

Then we went to visit our family in North Carolina.  We had some major sleep issues at first.  Me and my husband took turns trying to get him down.  Some days he fell asleep very late and many hours after his “night” nursing session.  Then, he dropped it.  Suddenly he was fine with me simply rocking him to sleep.  He didn’t ask and I didn’t offer.  When I did offer, he refused.  I believe this was mostly due to a drop in supply.  There was nothing to get so why try, he decided.

I won’t call it baby led weaning because I consciously pared down feedings over a few months time.  I tried to make it as painless as possible for both of us.  In the beginning when we transitioned from 6-8 to 3 a day, occasionally when he asked and cried I would give in.  I knew he loved it and so did I.  But as a busy toddler he has quickly forgotten the days of constant nursing.  He has signed for milk once or twice but he also uses it as a synonym to “sleep.”  He knows the milk is gone.  I already had a low supply from being pregnant.  The last time he nursed it was for a few seconds.  He got the comfort then allowed me to rock him to sleep.

I know I did what was right.  Even though I would have gone longer, having 19 weeks of not nursing is good for everyone.  I dreaded nursing him due to the pain, and I know he could sense that.  I resented having to nurse him to sleep while being in pain while my husband watched TV.  This break gives me time to rest my nipples and mentally prepare for nursing a newborn again.  I’m really not sure how I would have coped with nursing my toddler to sleep on top of nursing a brand new little one.

Now I am already excited about getting to nurse my next little boy.  I hope my experience will make the first few weeks more relaxing for me and the new baby.  I look forward to watching my toddler grow and become a little person while I get to nourish a new little life.  Only time will tell if my son will become jealous of the new nursling or if he will have forgotten that that was our thing.  I am so proud that we had a happy, healthy, and joy filled 18 months of breastfeeding.  I am also proud of the transition we have made.  It wasn’t easy but it was worth it.

Today I was able to sleep in until 10, was served breakfast in bed, and my husband helped me clean the house.  That must mean it is Mother’s Day!

I wanted to take the opportunity while my son is napping to wish all of the other Mothers out there a special day.  Homemade cards, paintings, special treatment, and lots of hugs and kisses make for a wonderful day!

We all have a hard job.  No matter if we use cloth diapers, disposables, breastfeed, formula, cosleep or CIO, parenting is hard work.  We all have our opinions on what is best (you know I do!) but I am reminded of a post by Jenn from Cottonbabies about respect.  We all choose different parenting methods, but as long as we love our babies and keep them happy, dry, clean, and fed that is the most important thing!

Every time I hear about the “mothers” who starve their children, abuse them, neglect them, I remind myself that those aren’t mothers.  Those are monsters.  Real moms do a great job, even when we don’t think we are.

When my son has peanut butter sandwiches or Easy Mac for lunch and refuses to touch a vegetable I feel guilty.  Then it happens the next day, and the next.  He eats a cookie and I feel terrible.  And when he watches more TV than I would like but it was that or screaming, I feel even worse.

Despite all of that he is happy.  He loves me unconditionally and shows it with lots of hugs, kisses, and snuggles.  He can’t say “I love you” but it doesn’t matter.   He didn’t get me a Mother’s Day gift but when he woke up this morning he gave me extra kisses, and that was the best gift in the world!  And now I have one more baby on the way to make being a Mom even more special.  I am terrified and excited all at the same time.

So enjoy your special day Moms, because tomorrow it is back to laundry and snot wiping.

Let me first say that I love breastfeeding.  And I love that I have been able to nurse my son for 17 months now.  I never thought we would make it this far.  I was happy to see six months, then a year.  Then a few months after he turned one I found out I was expecting.  It wasn’t a shock; we weren’t trying but we weren’t preventing either.  I didn’t even have my first post partum period until 5 days after my son’s first birthday.  With extra long cycles I had only had two before I took that test.  I feel very fortunate that we were able to get pregnant while I was breastfeeding at all!  I do not take my fertility for granted one bit because I know others who struggle.

After the idea of being pregnant settled into my brain it hit me: my son is still nursing like a fiend.  I knew weaning wasn’t an immediate option, though not out of the realm of possibility.  I had already hit my earliest set goal of one year.  I understood making it to two years is what is recommended and I fully expected to reach it.  When I found out I was pregnant my son was nursing on demand 3-8 times a day and sometimes at night.  He had reached a stage where he was mobile and would walk over to me and lift my shirt.  If I were bra-less (usually this was normal early in the morning before I had a shower) he had free access to “milkies.”

Frankly, this wasn’t my style.  I was happy to nurse him but being treated like a buffet, and not as gently as one would like, was wearing on me.  Also, the fact that he would paw at my shirt in public wasn’t my style.  I did (and do if needed) nurse in public and will never shy away from that.  However, I didn’t want this behavior to continue.

I finally decided I had to take it back a notch.  No longer was my son going to saunter over and latch on forcefully with his 8 little teeth, then hear a tune and rip away to dance, then hook back on when finished.  I decided to restrict his nursing to certain times: Mornings (my favorite!), naps, and night time.  Also, if ever there was a need for comforting, I would nurse then as well.  This turned out to be a challenge.  He has gotten very used to walking up to me and reaching for them, or signing for “milk.”  It was very hard to see him sign for me, and I caved many times.  My tactic was to distract him when he was bored and just wanted milkies.  I would either offer him a sippy cup of milk, or play with him, or cuddle him.  In 1-2 weeks he had gotten used to the new routine and all was well.  Since most of our nursing coincides with going to sleep (I nurse him to sleep for naps and nights still ,mostly) he now signs for milk when he is tired too!

That has been going on for a few months now.  I had originally intended on paring him down slowly until he is weaned.  My son has other plans.  He would actually wake up once a night every day that I had only nursed him twice.  He demanded his third feed come hell or high water.  Eventually that changed, mostly because he started sleeping in our bed again!  Oy!

So what am I to do? I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that I am likely going to be tandem nursing.  Ask me 2 years ago if I thought I would be nursing a toddler and a newborn and I would have asked if that was even possible, then maybe laughed at you.  Now I know that many mothers have done it.  I will be buying and reading “Adventures in Tandem Nursing” soon.  Is this how I want to go?  Frankly, no.  I would also like my son to fall asleep without nursing.  This is the big stumbling block.  He sleeps a few hours in his big boy bed, then walks to our room where he either nurses and falls back asleep, or just cuddles and falls asleep.

What would you do in my shoes?  Push the weaning?   Or accept that he loves to nurse and prepare for double duty?

***Update.  Since I wrote this a few days ago we have dropped the morning and afternoon feeding, but he still nurses 1-3 times at night!  I might not have to tandem afterall, but nights are going to be hard to get rid of.  Any ideas?

A few weeks ago I was particularly bored and trapped in the recliner as my 16.5 month old son napped on top of me.  With the clicker in hand I was determined to find something good on TV.  Shockingly, my DVR had nothing to offer.

I hit pay dirt when I saw Roseanne on Oxygen.  I tuned in and was immediately smiling at the reruns I had already seen but still loved.

I happened to be tuning in to season six, the one where Jackie gets knocked up by Fred and has a baby.

So imagine my surprise when I see this:

Hello leaky boobies!

Even better, her boobs activated (or, lactivated, get it *snort*) when her baby began crying.  When have you ever seen leaking breasts on TV?  What a frank and honest look at breastfeeding.  I know some of you out there have had some funny and embarrassing (aren’t those two things usually combined) moments where your breasts leaked at the worst time.  It happens, we all have a chuckle, and we change.  I happen to be one of the lucky ones who only leaked in the very beginning when I was engorged.  But every time my son popped off a little too early and milk went squirting, I couldn’t help but laugh!

I thought it was even better that her milk let down because her baby was crying.  The writers on this show much have been breastfeeders, or married to one.

Towards the end of the episode Jackie is in her wedding gown, about to walk down the aisle.  Downstairs, her son Andy begins crying.  Uh oh.

But you know what the best part of the episode was?

She nursed her son while saying her vows.  Oh yes she did.

But wait….

She had to switch sides right before she said “I do.”

I have always, always loved Roseanne.  This episode made me love it even more.  I was actually crying a little bit when she was nursing her baby in her wedding dress. Not so much because she was wearing a wedding dress, but because she was nursing her baby on a TV show.  She was doing it because it is what you do.  When you have a baby, you breastfeed.  When your baby is hungry, you nurse them.

Want to know something else?  Jackie coslept with her baby too!  Who knew there was such an AP mom on a 90′s sitcom!  Now if only there were breastfeeding mothers on today’s shows.  And ones who are having a positive experience and stick with it.  If you do see a mother nursing, she is cringing and complaining, then grabs a bottle and gives in.

Even on the reality shows like “Bringing Baby Home” the mothers mostly start out nursing their newborn.  They struggle, just like most mothers do.  Then they are shown six weeks later giving their baby a bottle almost every time.  Granted, there are exceptions.  I have seen one episode of a mother who was happily nursing her son months later and who spoke frankly of her trials and tribulations before she had it down pat.  Totally normal.  But those are the women we need to see; the ones who made it past the first 2 weeks, the first 2 months, and even *gasp* 6 months.  I am at 16.5 months and still going strong (while pregnant.)

I am thankful that organizations like Best For Babes are working to expel “Booby Traps” and put the word out that breastfeeding your baby saves lives.  Having positive female role models breastfeeding on TV and in Movies will help! I want to see another Jackie on a modern show, booby leaks and all!

I have been away from home for over 2 weeks.  We have been staying with family in North Carolina for Thanksgiving.  Let me tell you, it has been terrible.  I didn’t realize how much different it is to have a mobile baby.  We were here last time when my son was just sitting up.  Now, he is crawling and cruising and getting into everything.  We are staying in a non babyproofed home and I am running around pulling him away from crystal, vases, electronics, lamps, cabinets, and plants.  Every second I have to have an eye on him.  If I don’t, he will be dead or severely injured.  Just 2 minutes ago my son almost ate a dead lady bug, then immediately went and stuck his hand in a coffee cup.  His hand was a hair away from getting in the coffee.  I am exhausted.

Then, there is the fact that we cosleep.  The family we are staying with has been vocally against this.  Frankly, I would rather not at this stage but my son has regressed to not even going to bed in the crib for the first 2-3 hours like he used to.  This means we have to lay him in our bed and make sure he doesn’t wake up and fall off.  Luckily he has never done that but this room is upstairs, unlike home.  I am glued to the monitor waiting for the slightest sound.  He wakes up a few times a night, and I am there for all of those times except maybe the first time around 11-12 at night.  It is paranoia to think of your baby upstairs on a bed without you.  I imagine how much trouble he can get into if he wakes up and crawls off the bed.  It might sound crazy that we do this but he literally won’t sleep in the pack and play here.  He could be dead asleep and be laid in the pack and play and wake right up. My son has sleeping issues.

I actually don’t have an issue cloth diapering while traveling.  At least not when I stay with family.  I packed plenty of diapers and have washed 3 times so far. No repelling this time either.  I think using cloth diaper specific detergent makes all the difference!

I am so ready to get back to my home.  But, as soon as we get home we are actually moving down the street so I dread the packing.  Then we get a nice new place to live that I can look forward to.  Wish us luck with the next month which is going to be busy busy!

Could someone please give me a full nights sleep for Christmas?  That would be the best gift of all!