Baylee, Please Go to Sleep

Most of the time, I blog about the happy milestones of motherhood, but sometimes you have a rough week and you just gotta vent about the tough stuff.

As happy and fulfilled as it makes me, parenting is by far the toughest job I have ever had. I'm clocked in 24/7 and my boss only speaks 30ish words of English. ;) I try to be as confident of a mother as I possibly can, but I second guess my parenting choices all the time. One of which, is bottle feeding my 15 month old. 

I know, she's still a baby, but when every parenting book and article out there says that bottle weaning at 12 months is best, (due to risk of teeth rot and it being harder to wean at older ages) it's really hard not to take that as "you're doing something wrong". My kid likes, no, loves her bottle. She has taken to drinking water or juice out of cups just fine, but when it comes to milk it's bottle or nothing. I have tried, on multiple occasions, to give her milk in a cup (even tried warming it up!) and she takes a few sips, looks at me like I'm crazy, and throws it down. Meh. So, just skip the milk and give her dairy elsewhere? That would be great...if it weren't for that sweet face asking "Baba, Mama?" before nap time and bed time. She knows exactly when it's coming and looks forward to it. How can I deny her?

I figure she won't have a bottle when she's in Kindergarten, but I'd really like to have her off  of it sooner than that. ;) The struggle is real. Do I cut back one bottle at a time and ease her off? Do I just throw them all away and say "sorry 'bout it!"? Or do I wait until she's closer to 2 and either A. Weans herself. or B. Can understand better that the bottles have to go "bye bye." (Along with her beloved paci at that point...Dear Lord.) Also, even if I cut back one at a time, the middle of the night one is going to be our real challenge. Which brings me to Mama Struggle Numero Dos...my kid still wakes up at night.

It's 5:45 and I hear "waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" on my end of the monitor. Still half asleep, I look at the monitor's screen and see my sweet little girl standing in her crib. "Baylee, please go back to sleep." :( Nope...she wants milk and won't go back to sleep until she gets it. Sigh. 

I have been trying to night wean this child since she was 9 months old. Forget about it. It has gotten better, but she rarely sleeps completely through the night. She used to wake up twice a night without fail, now she wakes up once and usually not until after 5:30am (unless woken by something else earlier in the night.) I have tried so hard to find other ways to soothe her back to sleep or allowing her to self soothe, but the only thing that works for Baylee is to kick back 4 ounces of milk. Then, she drifts right back to sleep all by herself without a struggle. Us tired moms give in to stuff like that when the ulterior is a frustrated baby screaming for two hours because all she wants is her damn bottle. Truthfully, I don't mind getting up for her, but what I worry about is it continuing in to her toddlerhood and becoming a really hard to fix habit. Double meh.

Mom Struggle #3 is the tantrums. Holy Mother of God the tantrums! Why doesn't anyone warn you that as soon as your happy baby turns a year old something wicked clicks in them, and suddenly they get the idea that if they throw themselves on the ground screaming they just might get their way?! What is this nonsense?! Luckily, I have the sense enough to find an element of humor in my daughter's ridiculous behavior, so it's rare that I lose it, but every once in a while enough becomes enough. One more whine and I feel like I might send her to the moon! When days like this happen, I know the key is distraction, distraction, distraction...and if that doesn't work...nap time for both of us!

So, fellow parents, this is where you come it! Comment below if you have any advice about bottle weaning, night waking, or tantrums! Also, what are your biggest struggles when it comes to parenting a toddler? 

Despite all the though stuff, after I put Baylee to bed at night, it's always the fun and laughs we had that comes straight to mind. She really is a good girl, and I really am so blessed that God entrusted me to raise this amazing little creature. Besties for life.

Until next time! XoXoXo