weaning? co-sleeping? a wonderf

Good morning beautiful people!

 

How was your night? So, as you probably know I am a mom to a precious 1 Year and 6-months old toddler who is pretty chilled and laid back. However, of late she has become a mama's girl. clinging, having severe separation anxiety, wanting to latch on the boob 24/7 if able to. I must confess though that I at times love it. I love being needed and loved. especially as I am a working mom who goes to the office and comes home in the evening. I love knowing that I am still loved as a mom (code for above all else).. so, it is a bit of selfishness on my part. But another dimension to this is that we co-sleep with our baby. she is just the third inhabitant of our room and our bed, despite us having a pretty nice toddler bed for her. I can tell you some pros and cons about this.. let’s start with the cons-- at times she falls out.. rarely.. but it happens.. especially when we leave her in bed alone.. why? she is used to having a huge space to sleep in and she rolls around.. multiple times.. all this in a bid to locate the boob in her sleep.. it’s quite entertaining to watch actually, if you aren’t sleepy yourself and just want to settle down.. another con is that she breastfeeds the whole night.. I am basically her binkie. that’s just the way it is and of course this does not help my back in any way.. and separates me from my actual bedmate.. ha-ha.. yhoohh now that I am writing all the cons I am rethinking ha-ha.. anyway, let’s move on to the pros... ahh it does miracles to my psychology. I get cuddles all night long.. literally all night long, I get to know she is safe, breathing and fine, I get to monitor her health and see if there are spikes in temperatures, if the diaper is leaking, and any other accident. I also get to breastfeed her-- I know I know I listed it as a con but you know as a working mom, I feel like I should be breastfeeding her more and just having one session a day just doesn’t feel right to my mom senses.. thus, I don’t mind and at times encourage the night time sessions. even my husband misses her when she is not around.. ha-ha she has just integrated herself into our night time rituals. At times (very few times-- like twice) I have tried to get her to sleep in the adjoining room.. she actually sleeps pretty well.. but she will wake up about twice or thrice in the night and my heart just can’t take it so up I go and pick her and bring her back. we are planning to leave her at my mom and dads over the Christmas break and have ourselves a honeymoon and a well-deserved vacation- baby less- and I’m really thinking about it. my husband couldn’t be more in support of leaving her months on end for her to be showered with love from my parents and have her start day care for a bit then rejoin us. but my heart... it just can’t imagine one day without her. I just can’t. even events that take me far from her longer than my 12-hour day have to be compensated the following day.. I can’t imagine such a huge separation. therefore, I have decided I need to brace myself, treat myself psychologically, prepare the both of us by having perhaps one day away then two then by the time we leave her at home she is well and okay. this goes together with weaning. I want to wean her off by her 2nd birthday but in all honesty, I think I could breastfeed until she reaches 5 really. but hey life has to go on and she isn’t the one and only.. sigh.... God, please help me on this... ha-ha see how my conversations always go... they start out so strong, then they end up with a desperate cry for help... hahah it is a gradual progression. 

otherwise, how are you mamas coping with co-sleeping/ not co-sleeping, weaning, leaving your toddlers? any tips?

In Christ

MG