Sleeping and Eating

Some good news and some bad news.

So, I am happy to continue breastfeeding my toddler.  We both love it.  It is "work" for me, but also very rewarding and beneficial for her.  Cordelia nurses when she wakes up and before she goes to bed. If I am home I will nurse her when she wakes up from her nap.  Sometimes, she asks for a late afternoon milk session, usually by bringing me the nursing pillow and saying "Mmirh."

For months our routine for bedtime has been for me to nurse her in our dark bedroom and then she will fall asleep at the boob.  She usually keeps drinking a while in her sleep.  For a while, it was cutting down to almost as little as 30 mins for her to go to sleep.  But lately, she has been getting distracted more easily, and then returning to nurse more, and then rolling off to try and play or just lie on the bed.  She does not fall asleep on the bed easily.  She rolls and thrashes and gets up a lot.  Sometimes, she eventually lies down and I can kind of stroke her forehead until she goes to sleep. But it is a lot of work and takes a lot of time for her to go down this way.  And then transfer her to her crib, which has been going pretty well most days, but sometimes still fails.

So on nights when Cordelia is extra playful, I have given up and just put her in her crib.  As you might expect, the result is screams.  Sometimes when she realizes what is happening, she stands up in her crib and reaches up for me to hug her, saying, "Mama.  Up."  How tragic and heart breaking is that?

But the last few times, knowing she was fed and dry and needing to go to sleep, I have left her in her dark room.  She is able to put herself to sleep for her naps now, with minimal to no crying, this is not too different.  At first, she cried maybe 30 mins.  Then 15-20.  Then maybe 10.  Then last night, she fell asleep in our room with me, but woke up when I transferred her.  She stood up and cried for maybe 5 minutes but then lay back down and slept through the night!  (She has also had to have a bit of tylenol because she is teething like crazy).

I just put her in her crib for a nap, with the routine books of 10 Little Ladybugs and You Are My Sunshine and she did not even cry at all when I left.  She read books, played with her kitties, and then lay down to sleep!

Go C Go!

Even though I don't believe in "cry it out" for little ones, it is easier now that she is older and I KNOW as a parent that she can do it.  And this is how cry it out is supposed to work with gradual less and less crying each night, right?  Eventually, she was ready to learn some better sleeping habits.  Hopefully things will not change now that I've written this.

In the bad news department, I also got mastitis again. WTF.

Is it the switch between vacation nursing and back to work pumping?  I don't know what messed me up, but Tuesday afternoon I was feeling terrible and finally realized I had red streaks.  I thought my boobs were just tender from being suctioned by the pump after a break.  I had fever and chills.  No fun. No obvious back up or plugged duct, but there was an area of knotted tissue, where the infection was.  Back to school prep week is the WORST time to be sick.  I was able to get a phone appointment and antibiotics without having to go it… no time for that when staging a classroom!

It wasn't too bad overall, especially once I started the meds.  I just need to remember to take them 4 times a day.  No slacking or forgetting!  It is hard because they have to be on an empty stomach: 2-3 hours after eating and 1 hour before.  Don't they know I eat every 3 hours?  By the time I'm supposed to take a pill, I'm hungry again.

I started having weird heartburn last night after I took a pill.  Did I swallow it wrong some how?  That was so uncomfortable, now I know how my mom feels a lot!

I was going to write about her eating habits too, but not enough time.  She has been throwing food a lot at the table.  Ah, toddlerhood!