5 hours a day

That's approximately how much time I spend feeding William (thank you trixietracker for that piece of data). And I wonder why I feel like I'm always sitting on my butt? Of course we're tandem nursing do that doesn't count the time I spend with his sister (20-40 minutes).

Thank goodness for books and computers or I'd go out of my mind having to be parked that long . As it is it is kinda nice to have a reason to read/ write/ surf - maybe I can finally get caught up here :)

Cosleeping, Night Weaning and Other Parenting Choices

We're currently struggling with whether to continue night nursing with JJ.

Now I know that, at 18 months, there's a lot of folks who would be all freaked out that we're still nursing at all, let alone, on demand. But there's a strong body of evidence that suggests that allowing a child to 'self-wean' is a healthier (from an emotional attachment standpoint) way of weaning. The thought is that children who wean on their own suffer less abandonment issues/seperation anxiety/etc. than those who are cut off cold turkey as it were. Personally, I think the jury is out on the efficacy of studies in either camp (to wean or not to wean). However, it's clear that letting a child self-wean is not a BAD thing, so, in the interests of continued peace and harmony, we've chosen to go that route. I mean, honestly, it's way easier to just let him nurse than to turn him down. And it's a nice snuggly time for both of us.

BUT - the night time nursing is starting to be an issue. It's one thing if he woke up once and wanted to nurse a few minutes. But he's waking up multiple times a night and wanting to nurse anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. And it's starting to take it's toll. So we're debating on how to best approach night weaning. We don't want to wean him completely until he's ready. Even with a little sister on the way, we can tandem nurse - I don't mind. But the night time stuff...I need more sleep. The question is how? There's a lot of information out there on how to go about night weaning, so we may just try a few things and see how it works. He's a pretty adaptable kid - chances are it'll be easier than I suspect.

Just turn to the funnies, Mom

Yesterday, JJ was sitting in my lap in our awesome nursery rocker and I am reading to him (A to Z by Sandra Boynton - a fairly predictable piece with some questionable terminology in the latter part of the alphabet, but that's neither here nor there).  Since I had been nursing him earlier, I still had my shirt open.  As I finish the first page, he turns to me, nurses for a couple of seconds, then turns back to the book and flips the page.  After I finish the next two pages, he does the same thing again, like someone reading the paper and taking sips of coffee between pages.  What a nut!

Extreme Nursing! Or How To Get Milk To Come Out of Your Nose

Ever since JJ has been able to sit up successfully on his own, he's started trying new positions for nursing.  He'll twist and turn and try anything to get a new angle on things.  Currently I've been nursing him laying down on my side (easier to keep distractions to a minimum for Mr. Bright and Shiney moment) so his latest trick is to stand ON HIS HEAD while he nurses. Sort of like a downward dog yoga position with a face plant on the breast.  The other day he was doing this and sits up, smacking his lips, pleased as peach and I see - I am not making this up - milk coming out of his nose.  And I didn't even have to tell him a joke :)

yeeeeeeeeeeeeowch!

Ok, teeth and nursing, not such a good combo.  He's got two little sharp teeth on the bottom and today while nursing he decided that *chewing* would be fun. Ack!  I pulled away immediately and said "no!" firmly and turned away from him.  There was this utter shocked silence for a minute or two, then he started babbling away.  Let's hope he got the idea - that really smarted!