Weaning from the bottle

So I know it's been a long time since I last posted. I don't understand how these mommy bloggers can do it! Work full time, take care of the family AND blog! They're super mommies.

So after having gone through about a month of le bebe being sick constantly and one week with 4 doctor visits - the last one resulting in a double ear infection diagnosis - I have been informed by the doctor covering for our regular pediatrician that we are to lose the paci and lose the bottle. I can understand....however, this momma decided she's smarter than the average doctah and has decided to do things our own way. We'll lose the paci. When we're ready. Not when we're told. Sorry substitute female doctor with a mustache that made me cry when le bebe was just a weeks old....I digress....... So this week I decided to try and lose the bottle - at least for the most part. He still gets it during naps (or all day at grandma's house even though I tell her explicitly NOT to give it to him except for at nap time- which is another story we'll dive into another time) and as of last night......that's it.....no mas.... It's hard on mommy and daddy to do this. Daddy suggested we may be wait until this weekend to try taking the bottle away, but then quickly followed up with telling me he's all for it if I decide now is as good of a time as any. This comment was made about 5 minutes into the screaming from le bebe.

We took turns going upstairs to make sure he had his paci and to lay him down to tell him "It's bedtime, love. I love you, night night". That did NOT go over well. We were quickly reminded of the days when we decided we couldn't rock him to sleep every single night before carefully placing him in his crib so we put him down awake. At that time, daddy was the strong one. He told me I could leave the house so that I didn't have to hear my angel cry. I didn't, though. I stayed in the kitchen with daddy and he just hugged me until the most wretched seven minutes of my post baby life had ended. Seven minutes the first night, six minutes the second night, eleven the third, four minutes for the fourth night and voila. The crying stopped.

Now, however, the baby is almost a year and a half. He can stand. He can tell us he's mad. He has more stamina. He is more stubborn. Tuesday night, he and daddy were out to dinner with Great Granny and didn't make it home before falling asleep so the bottle was a non-issue. Monday night, I gave him the bottle while reading before bed and while Daddy was out at the store, I decided to start the no bottle in bed routine. He cried for about 10 minutes on and off, but just decided to hit the hay. Last night was a completely different story. I offered him milk while we were reading books from a sippy cup. NOTHANKYOUVERYMUCH. He didn't want really anything to do with it! So I tried to make him drink a little, but he didn't want to. I put him to bed after 5 books. His highness was not impressed with the new routine. It took 35 minutes of intermittent sobbing, yelling, throwing the paci, coughing, and one giant glass of vino for mommy before I won the battle. It was hard. I didn't like it. It made my heart hurt. I didn't like going in there and laying him down and having him reach for me ("MOMMY! PLEASE PICK ME UP" is what I imagine him saying) I wanted to pick him up and take him right to my bed and lay down with him in my arms until he drifted off to la la land. For me, I know this was the right way to do it. Some people will poo-poo that and say we shouldn't have gone in at all or some would say the cry it out method is vicious (and it sort of is for both baby and parent) but it was the best way for our family to make this change. I can only hope tonight is an easier night and that Daddy follows the rules while I'm off at my new workout class. I'm sure he will. He's the best Daddy around.