Option A: cold turkey aka frantic baby. You just stop nursing at night and hope he gives up within three days as is "usual". No specific references to 14 month olds who like to nurse twice a night and get up at 5.15am.
Option B: gradual withdrawal. The troops remain in the bed each night but the volume is slowly reduced. You try and respond BEFORE he usually wakes but at around that time. Theory is that he will not associate crying with the milk arriving. Some crying and complaining may result but at least you know you are not leaving him hungry. You can't give in because you think he's thirsty.
Option C: Strategic delays. Each night you respond to crying AFTER a set time. The time drifts later each night or so. Eventually you are only nursing at a wake-up time. This is not such a shock to the system but involves crying at the usual waking time.
I am leaning towards option C. I am thinking of starting with 3am as the deadline.
Last night was ludicrously sleepless. Frost woke at 12.30pm and needed help. Then again at 1.50 with painful legs (growing pains?). I gave him tylenol. Wren woke an hour later and nursed. Then again at 4.30am. I nursed him in exhaustion and he slept for all of 15 minutes before crying. After ignoring him a bit he quieted then cried. When I went in he was still clearly tired by crying. Ugh. I got him up but he has been cranky ever since. I am not cranky because it was just such a bad night that you have to shrug about it. I shall be hitting Zoka for a double later on.
Today is my first Monday workshift at school so Heather, the nanny, will reap the benefits of his early rising and get a long nap this morning. I may ask her to wake him so I can steal a bit of it later. We shall see.
Mum is still visiting and is reading to Wren and entertaining him which is why I am able to type right now. I have also had a shower and washed my hair, normally on the Do No Do list according to Mister W. Mum is also coming to school to do a short talk on her trip to the Desert in Namibia.
The sun should be rising soon and perhaps it will be another sunny day. The summer garden plan is in its draft stage and Joshua and I have begun the annual debate about whether to grow peppers. He tells me that broccoli is on the list. Both our kids love to eat broccoli.
I don't often post pictures of Josh but I am not a single parent. Here are Josh and Wren in the basement with Frosts replacement kite in the background. Kite #1 was lost out to sea on a KapKa camping trip one summer. We shall not revisit the pathos here.
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