Bye Bye Bottles

We are on our first 24 hours of no more formula, no more bottles. We ran out of formula on Monday and decided since Anna will be one in only a week and a 1/2, we might as well take this opportunity to make the switch. I had decided awhile back that when we switched to whole milk we would get rid of the bottles too - making a clean transition to sippy cups and regular cups. This change is proving to be more difficult for me than it is for Anna.

Since birth, Anna has never been one to snuggle for long periods of time. She may give you a little hug or a kiss, or crawl on your lap for a minute or two, but not much more. The exception to this has always been Anna's morning and nighttime bottles. During these times I was guaranteed at least 15 minutes of snuggle time. Anna would have me hold the bottle so she could play with her hair with her 2 hands. Oh how I loved that time!!!

But, it's time to say goodbye to that phase and move on to the next. We are finding new ways to get those precious moments. Reading stories (particularly "Wiggle Waggle", Anna's favorite) is a great opportunity to snuggle for awhile. And we just adjust by adding many more hugs and kisses in throughout the day.

The other big change for us is one regarding sleep. I had mentioned in a few previous posts that Anna is waking up in the night. Since around 6 months of age Anna has been a very predictable 11-12 hour sleeper at night. She would go down at 6-6:30pm and we wouldn't hear from her until 6-6:30am. As Anna has gotten older, this seems to be changing - as is our approach.

From the beginning Steve and I followed a pretty steady pattern of how we dealt with sleep and how we helped Anna learn to fall asleep on her own and to soothe herself. This involved a bedtime routine, as well as a few nights of "crying it out". While sometimes controversial, this worked for us. Anna never cried longer than 10 mins and her cries didn't escalate - they faded out and after 2 nights it didn't happen again.

Now however, when Anna awakes she is very visibly afraid of something. She sometimes doesn't know where she is and her cries escalate if not tended to. I don't feel comfortable with the method we have used in the past, so we are in unchartered waters for us. We have been taking the approach of going in and comforting her, rocking her for a few minutes and helping her get her bearings and then laying her back down. Typically she is back asleep within 10-15 mins. It's hard to know if we are fostering a bad habit, or are approaching this in the wrong way, but my gut says she needs cuddles and reassurance - so that's what we are doing. It's our hope that by doing this she regains the confidence that we are nearby and she need not be afraid.