Last night was the third night that Ava bug went down for bed without nursing and without co-sleeping. While the first night was most definitely the hardest (which really wasn't all that hard), the third night was a cake walk and I'm thinking that it's only going to get easier from here. My last blog post listed all the steps we took that assisted with easing Ava into this new routine. We did the same thing all three nights and the amount of time that it takes our girl to go down for bed has decreased from an hour and a half to ten minutes. I literally stayed by her bed for about six or seven minutes before I noticed that she was already passed out. That was the moment I knew that everything was going to be okay. Nap time has proven to be even easier than bedtime. Ava never looked for comfort nursing while napping, but then again she only sleeps for 1-2 hours during the day. Night time is when she would want to comfort nurse, and it's a 12 hour stretch, so it makes sense that bedtime would be more challenging.

I still haven't been emotional about this change and I'm extremely happy about that. We had almost 21 months of nursing and I don't feel as if I missed out on any type of connection, bonding experiences, or nourishment with my child. In fact, this entire experience has made me even more excited for trying to conceive our second babe. I've realized that I am not the type of mother that would be able to tandem nurse, or potentially revert back to nursing once I fell pregnant. I really needed to close that door in order to get my mind, heart, and soul ready for the journey I am going to embark on (again). I've also realized that the amount of toddler-wearing going on around here has increased. Just because one form of attachment parenting has ended for us, doesn't mean they all have to. I'd like to wear my daughter as long as she'll allow.

Another added bonus about our change in routine would be the added alone time I have had with Justin, and our eagerness to try and implement the "princess potty" more. I can't say that it hasn't been nice to snuggle my husband without an extra body in the bed. I know Justin doesn't really miss getting kicked in the face in the middle of the night, or pushed to the edge of the bed. I'm trying to find all the good that is coming from our decision and so far it is working. Because her second birthday is around the corner (literally three months away), I really want to dabble into potty training a little more than before. I know she's not completely ready yet, but I'd like to see what type of results we can get if we actually implement the potty into our days. Cloth diapers have become a saving grace again, as we don't have much of an expense associated with diapering. For 4 months of diapering, I literally spent $28 on supplies needed. You really can't beat that, and that's why I'm more than okay with taking the potty transition slow.

Hopefully some of this information is encouraging or helping another mama out there to confidently wean (if that's what they want) or end a co-sleeping relationship.

Happy Tuesday all!

♥- Leilani

Cold Turkey

Rather than easing into such a tough transition, I decided to wean my toddler AND get her setup in her own room without any type of long term transitioning. I have technically been "weaning" for over six months, and I now know that nothing is going to stop my child from nursing, other than taking it away completely. The same applies for co-sleeping. Ava will take naps in her toddler bed (if she's already asleep when she gets put in there), but she would never really lay in her own bed at night. Not even when she fell asleep prior to being put in. It wasn't until tonight that I felt 100% ready to take the leap that was desperately needed. Here is a list of the things Justin and I did to achieve our first successful night.

• Getting Bug ready for bed a little earlier in case we were in for a long night.
• No co-showering with mom, baths in her bathroom, solo.
• Getting ready for bed in her nice (big) toddler room.
• Giving her lots of love and letting her see we were right beside her (on the floor) with our own sleep stuff.
• Putting her favorite music on for added comfort. Super low and nothing with a fast beat.
• laying her down in her bed (several times) telling her she was going to sleep in the big girl bed. 
• Whenever she got up, we put her right back in her bed. 
• Rubbing her back (for all of five minutes)

After all of the above, Ava went down to sleep with zero issues. A couple days ago we tried purchasing pacifiers in an attempt to give her another form of comfort, but she only played around with them when she was awake. She didn't even use them the way they are intended, so I wasn't feeling very confident about them. Ava would put them to the side of her mouth and chew.. kind of like a teether. When we tried to give her one this evening during bedtime, she threw the pacifier off the side of her bed. On the upside to that, I'm excited that we won't have to wean her from something else later down the road! This is the routine that we are going to try each night until Ava no longer needs us in her room. I'm so very proud of Ava bug and definitely proud of my husband and I. Prolonging this change made it so much harder than it needed to be. Toddlers need good sleep and it was up to us to implement good sleep behavior. I still can't believe how easy it was to actually do this. Minimal drama, sleeping beauty baby, and mama is not feeling emotional about the change in the slightest! I'll keep you posted over the next week, but it looks like we've got more than enough room for another baby in the Howland house now! 

How many of my readers have weaned their toddlers from either co-sleeping or breastfeeding? What did you do to transition your kiddos? Any special techniques you found that worked? Leave me some feedback in the comments below or by email. 

Happy Saturday all! 

♥- Leilani