[pmasci]

Hey Toni...

sounds like she is just waking up to be with you, since she is a good eater. I think you'll get it under control, and I think it's great that you're doing it during the summer. Probably will only take a few weeks!!

My son had his binky (pacifier) till he was 3. Had it full time till around 15 months, then only at nap & bedtime. We geared him up for it, then just kind of lost them...he actually had 4 in his bed at a time...funny. He really did well with it. As for his blanket, my gf has a daughter who is 5 1/2, and she still has her "lovey" but only is allowed to use it at home and mostly when she goes to be. She also still sucks her fingers. She's starting kdg. in the fall, and my friend is afraid she'll get teased for sucking her fingers. Oh, well, guess maybe that will stop it, eh? That's why I like binkies better...you can "lose" them, lol!!

[LBH]

Pam, I have to agree with you about the sucky's (that's what we called the paci's), I'd rather be able to lose the them. One of my gf's DDs sucked her finger too, up until she was around 6-7 I think.

Toni, Karen will be able to relate to the constant, mama thing! Her DD is like that. As for DS, I'd start with the "out of site, out of mind" concept for the pacifier! Make them all disappear, cold-turkey. He has his blanket, that should be enough. At 3, he'll throw a temper tantrum and forget what he's throwing it for shortly after. That should be easy to solve.

I don't know if you've gone through the many posts in this thread, but if you have, you will see that my boys are not the easiest in the world. I don't think I've slept through the night too many times since January 2003! And to sleep in my king - size bed with just DH? Those are rare occasions! #1 was colicky for 3 months straight, then started teething at 4 months! It was not fun! Hang in there, hopefully in the next month or so, you can happily tell us they've both dropped their vices!

[IrishJoan]

Lauren ~ quick question for you regarding Focalin.... I took Liam to see his dr. yesterday and we started him at 20 mgs. of Focalin today. He seems to be doing ok today; no big difference really. I was just wondering how it works for Peter? Liam took it for a month or two 3 years ago. It didn't work for him then but his doctor seems to think that it might this time around. Also, let me know how it is working for YOU. Hugs ~ Joan

[LBH]

Joan, Peter does great on it. He's on 15 mg. and doesn't come down as 'hard' as he did on the 10 mg. Our NP explained that for some reason, when you look at the technical studies or whatever, they show that the 15 mg. has a longer arc than the 10. On the 10, it was barely lasting 8 hrs.

I actually took 10 mg. today, to see if there's a difference, since the 5 wasn't doing anything. Nothing.

What was DS taking before?

[IrishJoan]

Lauren ~ DS was taking 30 mgs. of Adderol XR before and that had very little influence over him. He's been on the Focalin for a week now and we're not really seeing any difference. My fingers are crossed that the new meds work wonders for you!

[mamatoni]

I have to report that DS is now officially plug-free (we call his pacifier his plug)

3 or 4 days ago at bedtime we just "lost it" it took him a lot longer to fall asleep, but it is getting better and there weren't even any tantrums! Thanks guys for the push to do this!

Things with DD are going okay...still up, not tons, but up. I think that we will start the whole night weaning thing in a couple more weeks, she has a set of molars that are almost through. I'll keep you guy's posted.

Thanks again for the push to get rid of the "plug", DH and I are both thrilled to be done with them.

[IrishJoan]

Yeah Toni! Congrats. Funny how excited we get over these little milestones. Best of luck with the weaning thing. It'd be great if you could have DD completely weaned before you go back to teach this fall. You'd actually be able to sleep *all* night! Have a good day ~ Joan

[LBH]

Yeah Toni!!!

[mamatoni]

so here is how night weaning is going so far...

Day 1:
DD went to sleep around 10:30, woke up at 12:45, cried and screamed for 20 min. (way shorter than I thought she would!), woke up at 2:30 kinda wimpered and rolled around for 15 min. woke up again at 6, I nursed her and she fell back asleep (I figure I will nurse after 5:30 b/c that is when I usually get ready for work), woke again at 7, nursed again, she slept until 9:10!!

Day 2:
DD went to sleep around 10, woke up at 12:50, cried and crashed around for 45 min (didn't cry as much, but was having a harder time settling), woke up 1:30, repeat of earlier for about 20 min, repeat at around 3, then DS needed to pee at 4, got up to help him with that, DD woke back up around 4:30 then again at 6:30 (I nursed her then) and was up for the day at 8:15.

I am tired. She was much more accepting of not nursing at night the second night, but was up much more frequently. I think her excema was bothering her and making it harder to fall back asleep, she is also having to teach herself another way of falling asleep and it takes a while I suppose. I hope tonight is better. I will definitely make sure I have her soothing excema medicine handy tonight (I couldn't find it last night). I've read that after the third day it gets much better...we'll see.

[LBH]

Oh that's rough Toni! Do you go into her room to try and sooth her at all, or do you just stay completely away?

[pmasci]

Toni, you're doing great!!! Just keep it up, and before you know it, she'll be weaned!!! It's so tough when you're going through it, but so well worht it when it's done!!!

[mamatoni]

thanks guys for the support, it is going better than I expected, so I know it must be the right time. She sleeps with us and in her little crib mattress that is between the bed and the wall about a foot lower than the edge of the bed. She used to sleep totally with us, but as she has gotten older we have moved her toward her bed and have been lowering it. Since we live in a 20' by 24' cabin, we don't really have "rooms" per se...just the bathroom. A few years ago DH built a partial wall upstairs so we have a "room" that functions as bedroom/computer room/living room and then the kids area in the other half. I CANNOT WAIT until we have the $ to build a bigger place, we are trying to do it without taking out a loan, better in the long run, but hard right now.

I'll let you know how tonight goes.

[IrishJoan]

Toni ~ this will be so worth it! Sounds like you'll be sleeping all night w/o interruptions in short order. We used to live in a tiny two bedroom home so I feel your discomfort. I love where we live now since we have so much more room, however, all three of my kids still get homesick for the little old house. How nice that your DH builds! Will he eventually build your home?

[mamatoni]

good morning, just wanted to let you all know how Day 3 of night-weaning went before I get ready for a playdate. She was up A LOT, but only for 3-5 min or so each time, definitely getting better at soothing herself to sleep. She went to bed at 10, up at 12:45, up at 1:30, up at 1:42, up at 3:30, up at 4:30, up at 5, up at 6 (nursed her), up at 7 (nursed again), it is now 8:45 and the little lazy bones is still asleep!

[CaffeineIV]

Toni...I'm new but just wanted to say congratulations. So many people don't nurse as long as you have, that is fantastic.

Umm...Hi!

I have 2 boys. I have a 7 year old starting 2nd grade and a 4.5 year old starting pre-school. My 7 year old is incredibly sensitive and very very very literal. Mild asperger's has been considered but since he's in a small school and gets lots of attention and isn't causing problems...we don't really care and are just letting him grow. He is protective. He's always the first to get to any kid that has fallen on the playground. He wants to take care of everyone. I seriously don't know what I did to deserve such a caring gentle spirit but I'm glad I did it!

My 4.5 year old is developmentally delayed as far as comprehension goes, and painfully shy. He took about a year before he would allow my aunt to hold him even. He was hyper-sensitive and when we finally figured out what was going on with him he was about 3 months old. At that point I spent 3 months indoors with him, never even going into the back yard. I worked with him and gradually got him to where he could handle life. Before that, he couldn't deal with a gentle breeze (would make him gasp...heck, just blowing an eyelash off him would), change in light, noises, anything really. The only thing that would get him to stop crying was the sound of running water...our water bill went VERY high before we managed to find a good water sounds CD that worked. He's never been a good eater and at times when he gets sick, he gets TOO thin and we will use heavy cream or something in mac & cheese or make a high calorie pudding...anything to fatten him up to close to 5% in weight again. My mom saw him once getting out of the tub after he'd been sick and said he looked like a cute Gollum.

Both boys are fantastic but have caused more than a few grey hairs with ER visits. We've had 6 with my first...he bit through his top lip when he was about 1.5 years old climbing out of the little pool, bit through his bottom lip when he fell while "dancing"...got 1 stitch. He fell and hit his head at my mom's house while I was 8.5 months pregnant and got 6+ stitches. etc.. My second has only had stitches once, and that was the only bloody visit to the ER for him (opposite eyebrow from his brother but otherwise almost the same...brother was trying to cut in front of him in a race around the house...chair got in the way). He though, gets croup all the time. His O2 stats have been in the 80's before. I'm so glad we have a hospital within 10 minutes of us.

I swear...some people think having kids keeps you young. Me...I think kids are aging me and may lead to an early heart attack! God love them though, I wouldn't trade them for the world.