Sleeping and Nursing

Okay - because at the moment Campbell is sleeping, I am going to take advantage of it and post about two things......

1. Sleep.
So before C was born, Brennan started the night in his crib and then joined me in the middle of the night. We knew this couldn't continue when Campbell came along since she would be in bed with me instead. So for a while, Brennan and PJ slept on the futon or couch together, but then we decided that Brennan might actually sleep better and longer if he just stayed in his crib. The other thing we knew we had to change was getting him to bed, which tended to take about an hour of our time every night as we sat with him until he fell asleep. With PJ's demanding job and a baby that needed to nurse a lot at night, we felt like something had to give.

So to start out with, we worked on Brennan going to sleep without us. It was hard - he had to cry sometimes (which I was totally against, but at this age, it was different than as a newborn) but mostly he was just mad and yelled. Often it was totally fine and he just put himself to sleep without fuss. Yay!

Then we started working on the middle of the night - we did this in a variety of ways, but ended up letting him figure it out on his own for a few night in the middle of the night. Sometimes he and PJ still end up on the couch. Other times I may go in there to let him know I am there and calm him down, and other times he cries out for a minute and falls back to sleep. It has actually helped him sleep.

Now Campbell on the other hand is a testament to how different children, even though treated the same way, can just be totally different in how they react to a situation! Campbell and I bed-share, and go to sleep around 10pm - then even though she is right next to me, she sleeps until at least 3 or 4am before feeding. Then till 6am until she feeds on the other side. Seriously - Brennan never did that, and he slept right next to me too! He was an every hour eater - and people always thought it was b/c he was right next to me. I think not! This is an example of temperament, personality and need. Last night we went to bed at 8:45 (we were exhausted after a long wedding weekend!) and she didn't wake up until 4am! Though her brother was up at 3:30am and went to sleep on the futon with PJ. Just different. Campbell also likes to sleep in later than Brennan. Another thing - Brennan was always a belly sleeper, but Campbell hates to be on her belly and prefers to sleep on her back (and with a pacifier!).

Nursing.
All through my second pregnancy I nursed Brennan. I went in to nursing him thinking I would do it for 1 year, but then just continued b/c it worked for us and felt right. Now Brennan is two and still nursing, but with conditions. Since we have a newborn, her needs always come first for nursing. I have attempted tandem nursing (nursing two at the same time - literally, the same time), but I don't really find it comfortable and don't enjoy it. So often I will let Brennan nurse in the morning after Campbell. It is a challenge b/c he LOVES nursing, but to be honest, nursing him has started to annoy me. How horrible is that? It frustrates me to have such feelings, but I do, it is what it is. I try to encourage him not to nurse b/c of my feelings, but to respect his feelings, we compromise and often I will nurse him - especially when he is tired or not feeling well. Sometimes giving him a bottle of milk or water will help (especially if we are snuggling together). It is a struggle for us all to figure out how to balance this. I could go on, but need to shower before the little girl wakes up from her second nap of the day (and it is not even 10am!).