One Step Back

Bunny has been night weaned since early March. Every now and then she would still wake at night and ask to nurse, but was easily comforted by my snuggles. I would tell her the nursies were sleeping and she didn't argue it. She would just take a drink from her sippy cup of water and cuddle back to sleep. This was all going fine until the week Squirrley was born. Along with all the other new things in her little life, Bunny also started cutting her two year old molars. When she was having a a lot of teething pain she would wake at night and whine and ask to nurse. I would try to distract her by singing a lullaby or rubbing her feet or back. She would usually end up falling asleep, eventually.

After a particularly long session of her begging to nurse the other night, and me trying everything I could think of to comfort her in other ways, she started to cry. I made the decision to let her nurse. Within a couple of minutes she was fast asleep. She slept well the rest of the night. Sometimes, as a mama, you have to know when to take a step back and decide what is important. Night weaning was intended to help us both get more sleep. But not nursing was keeping her (and me) awake. So I have decided to back up a bit and resume night weaning after the molars are through. She needs to nurse at night right now. She needs that comfort. We both need to get some sleep. Hopefully teething won't last long and we can get back on track. But for now, taking a detour is the right thing for us.

I tried it last night. Bunny woke and started fussing to nurse. I let her and she was back to sleep in under a minute. I have always heard that sleep begets sleep, and it must be true because after her usual morning nurse when her papa got up, she didn't get up until after 9. I definitely feel like this is the right thing to do.