Dinosaur Vs. Bedtime

I saw this book at Target the other day and it immediately made me think of Alex. "Alex Vs. Bedtime" would be more appropriate, I thought. Last night was night #2 of him falling asleep without nursing. The night before was pretty hellish and he was up until almost midnight (not TOO uncommon for him) and he was NOT very happy. I just loved him and tried to snuggle with him. It was a battle, especially just trying to keep him contained on his little bed instead of running wildly around. Last night he was out by 11:30. From about 10-11 was pretty awful. But, around 11 he realized he wasn't going to get nursies until morning (even though we talked about and prepared for this and I repeated it over and over). He did say, in tears "Make me happy, mommy. Nursies make me happy.".

It was pretty heart breaking but I know that this is what is necessary for us at this point. I do not intend to wean Alex. I fully support him nursing until he's done, however, it's become more than an obsession and it's caused him to get little sleep, and me as well. I do not want the last part of our nursing relationship to be frustrating. I also do not want to resent his need to keep nursing, which is what I was beginning to feel.

I noticed in the last 2 nights that he actually stayed asleep longer before waking up asking to nurse. Night #1 he woke up frantic, flailing and screaming for it, but last night when he did finally stir, simply crawled into my bed and groggily asked to nurse. I let him. He also hasn't nursed at all today, and is currently napping. I do hope it doesn't lead to him weaning fully, I just want to cut down this night nursing...I cannot do it all night long, work part time, homeschool my older child and take care of them all day (and night, now that my husband works graveyards again).

So, tonight when it's time for Dinosaur to go to bed, I hope the roaring is down to a minimum and maybe we'll shave another 15 minutes off of that bedtime. He seemed to enjoy being sung to sleep last night, telling me "That's a good song, mom" after hearing "Twinkle, Twinkle" 3 times. :)