Bottle Weaning
Isaak 19 months
I have never been the type of mom who was in a hurry to speed through different stages of my children’s growth. My oldest four children are all 2 1/2 – 3 1/2 years apart in age so it’s given me plenty of time to “regroup” before the next one comes along.
I take my time going from crib to toddler bed, potty training, and weaning them from the bottle because, why not? I never had the need to rush.
Given that our fifth child was a bit of a surprise, my two youngest are extremely close in age, 16 months to be exact. As “experienced” as I could usually claim to be, this baby has definitely thrown me for a loop because of just that. I am constantly pulling my hair out trying to juggle between the two. Just going into a store seems to be the biggest ordeal and I, more often than not, prefer to stay home to avoid all the stress.
Right now I’m struggling with the decision to wean my older baby, Isaak who is 19 months, off the bottle. Before August, my 3 month old, was born, I kept telling myself that I should wean Isaak BEFORE the baby. Instead I refused to deal with it and now I’m facing an even harder position.
First of all, the trauma! My poor Isaak will have to be deprived from his comfort item all while staring at his baby brother sucking away on one of HIS bottles. As of now, Isaak has been the greatest little BIG brother to August and has shown absolutely NO signs of jealousy. I’m afraid that when I take his bottle away, Isaak will start to get angry with August because he gets a bottle and Isaak doesn’t.
Second of all, the sleep issue. It seems like I’ve just come to the point where August is sleeping through the night and I’m able to get a full nights rest only to mess it up by taking Isaak’s bottle away so I can listen to him wail and whine all night long. I know I know, it would only take a week tops, but still.
Lastly, it means my big baby is growing up. I hate that. I hate having to face the truth that my little ones are changing ever so fast. By taking the plunge and removing Isaak from his bottle, I have to accept the fact that this brings me one step closer to his toddler hood, to him sleeping in a big boy bed and to his first day of Pre-K.
I may not start today or tomorrow, or maybe even next month, but it’s coming soon. In the meantime, I’ll focus on not having so many bottles to hand wash as my motivation!
Poor Izey. You know what you have to do to wean, so do it when your ready, but just make sure you do it before he starts pre-k. We don’t want him to get picked on in school.
Seriously take your time! I weaned Sara before Clayton was born, and she was back on soon after. Then with Clayton I didn’t want him to grow up and that is how he put him to sleep. So we made sure to brush his teeth morning and night and waited until he was 2 1/2! I know sounds like I am an awful mom, but he was old enough to understand that the bottle fairy was coming to collect every single bottle in exchange for a special toy to cuddle with at night. I love that you are taking your time letting your kids grow up. Let kids be kids they only get to do it once. Plus why not just save yourself some sleepless nights and wait until you can wean both boys at the same time:) We love this topic so many moms feel pressured to do it too soon.
Thanks for the advice Christina!! It makes me feel better to know I’m not the only mom who let’s their baby have a bottle after two years! I have a pictures of Kora sleeping with a bottle when she was 2 1/2 on my fridge to remind me that when isaak gets to that point, I need to do something about it!! It’s sooooo hard tho, I’ll have to use your fairy idea.
Thanks!