BABY SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT

Alert the Media! Owen, my little night waker, slept through the night TWICE this week. This is a miracle. 

Let me preface this story with this thought.  Every single night I think to myself, "self, tonight could be the night that Owen sleeps through the night."  This has been my last thought before bed since, um, maybe July 2008. 

Here's how it went down: 

me: **OMG, it's 4AM and Owen hasn't nursed or stirred yet**

(rustle, flip over, try not to think about a my baby not breathing in his crib)

me: **AHH that thought is too horrible, must wake up husband**

me: "Matt, Owen is still asleep" 

Matt: ereughhh? 

me: "and it's 4AM"

Matt: "that's great honey"

me: "should I check on him?"

Matt: "not if you want to keep sleeping"

me: "okay" 

 -- five minutes of forcing my eyes shut later--

me:**thinking thoughts of baby not breathing in crib...

NO NO push those thoughts away... think of fun dreams and sleeping... WAIT, my breasts hurt, Why do my....** 

WAAA? 

me:**crap, my breasts are engorging, great, now I will get a breast infection.... la la la, go to sleep... hold on, I can't get a breast infection NOW after 11 months of nursing... oh no, oh no, continue thinking all types of completely irrational thoughts... 

I get up and get the breast pump, my arch enemy. Pump for 4 minutes, release pressure... 

Matt: "ereerhhh/??"

me: "I had to pump or I was going to get a breast infection" 

Matt: "go back to sleep, honey" 

me: "okay"

Then by some miracle, I fell back asleep and Owen slept until 6:40AM.  That's right 7:40-6:40 BABY!  

NOW WE ARE TALKING and it only took 11.5 months.  I can sense my beauty sleep is just around the corner.... only time will tell.  I wonder if you can guess what my last thought will be before bed tonight? 

Nursing at 11 months-- a look back

Yes, I'm still nursing.  Owen has only had one cold in his life and never been really sick.  I think a lot of this has to do with the breast milk. Here is my little reflection of this past year of nursing.  Many reflections are coming as Owen will be ONE YEAR OLD March 1st!! 

I think pretty much every woman wonders what it would be like to nurse a baby.  I mean you are endowed with breasts and they certainly serve a sexual function as a young woman (like it or not) but as I thought further about my body beloved parts, I always wondered what it would be like to nurse a baby.

I'll give you my *real* opinion, as I always do. 

At first, like with anything "baby" it's difficult.  It hurt.  No two ways about it. My poor nipples were not used to someone suckling them for hours each day.  My best friend was the little purple tube of 100% pure Lanolin, by Lansinoh.  In 5-10 days life was back to normal, eerrr not really. 

So as many women can attest, these new breasts you develop during pregnancy are not the ones you are used to. They are bigger, heavier and produce MILK!  They seem to require many return trips to the local Target for a cheap bra-- in ONE size larger, AGAIN!  

0-3 months -- it's a lot of work. Your breast milk is still not stable and very much working on supply and demand and then the occasional pumping might throw off your demand and POOF you are left with too much milk.  It's all tricky during this part, including getting the baby to actually latch on and shaping your breast like the babies mouth, trying to find your breast half asleep in the middle of the night.  Just hang in there. 

3-6 months -- still lots of nursing going on since baby probably doesn't eat anything else besides breast milk, but since s/he can drink more at one sitting (larger stomachs) you might be nursing less frequently (but likely still at night). Baby is doing great with latching on well and helps himself a lot of the time. Better head control makes it much easier during these months. 

6-9 months -- for me, it began to get A LOT easier here, I could skip a feeding session here and there and nothing bad (READ leaking or full breasts) would occur.  Owen was loving *real* food and ate like a champ.  He could also find the nipple himself so it was so much easier to latch on anywhere. Solid foods took the stress off of nursing for sure.  I began to nurse him only at night and it all seemed much easier and way less public.

9-12 months -- he drinks religiously every morning first thing. It's our sweet time together.  He STILL enjoyed one dairy bar midnight snack although we are finally ready to cut that out... this week is our trial. I'll keep you posted.  Owen now nurses 2-3 times a day, if I'm around.  If I'm working or away from him, he'll wait and/or drink formula at home (hates breastmilk in a sippy cup, and never did take a bottle).  He usually still gets in at least the AM feeding and the afternoon/evening feeding, plus once at 2AM so we are down to 4 times a day, MAX, which seems like NOTHING compared to the 12-14 when they are newborns.  

I truly enjoy our nursing sessions.  Honestly it's one of the only times I still get to look right at him without him wiggling out of my sight.  There is something very sweet about it, especially at this age. Owen knows I'm comforting him and providing him milk and he and I enjoy this time together. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm going to miss the night nursing sessions because it's our sweet time together just mama and baby.  

I have a sneaky suspicion that Owen will give up nursing soon. He's starting to seem less and less interested and my milk supply is definitely less but only time will tell.  I'm going to continue nursing as long as possible through this next year.