Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Day 2

Lainey turns 1 on Sunday and so we've started transitioning her off the bottle and solely to the sippy cup. She's done just fine with the cup since around 6 months, but it's always difficult to remove the bottle completely from a baby's routine.

I've started at nap time and she's doing well. Yesterday, she went down without a bottle and today, she's headed in that direction, too. It's a very emotional process for me, though. Listening to her fuss triggers a significant physical reaction in me....one that wants to throw all reason out the door, run in to her room, pick her up, give her a bottle and tell her that everything is going to be OK. She can carry a bottle to Kindergarten for all I care.

But, instead, we move forward.

With 3 kids, we've seen a range of difficulty in this department - all brought on by the habits we instilled in them.

Carter wasn't off the bottle until he was 15.5 months old. We were new parents and irresponsibly had that poor baby hooked on the bottle - for nap time, bedtime, immediately when he woke, etc. We honestly didn't know better and have learned from that experience. Sometimes, I look back and can't believe a hospital dismissed us with a real living human being for us to take care of. As much as we read and studied and prepared with infant classes, we were clueless.

Jack - off the bottle the day he turned 1. We took an entirely different approach and implemented much smarter sleep routines and consequently, this stage was a breeze.

Lainey is somewhere in between, but leaning more towards Jack's history. We've babied her more because she's a girl, because she's our youngest, because we don't want to let go of her being a baby. She's doing well, though, despite our coddling. And, as I close this post, I notice she's no longer fussing and sound asleep.

The sweet sound of progress.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You are a great mom and our children are fortunate to have you. Any progress that has been or will be made is due to your tireless efforts Casey. I thank you for all that you do for our children.

Love you