This too Shall Pass

>> Monday, June 28, 2010

My baby has stopped taking the bottle. He'll take a couple sips of water or milk from his cup, but then he refuses that too. It has been really frustrating. He has been taking a bottle since he was 3 weeks old, now all of a sudden, its boob or nothing. I've been thinking of ways to force him. Just refusing to nurse him outright. But then I think, "this too shall pass." And it will.

Today I was thinking about all of the ways that my son has progressed, without me doing much of anything at all. A mere two months ago, the boy couldn't sleep without me right there with him. I would nurse him to sleep, then I'd have to stay in the room with him for the rest of the night. I would put in a DVD once he'd drifted off, or read by the light of a book lamp, but one thing I wouldn't do was leave the room. Because his eyes would pop open immediately. He only napped on my lap or in a baby wearing device, making it pretty darn tough to use his naptimes productively. Now, I'm proud to say, I can nurse him to sleep, put him down, and walk away. He will nap for up to two hours without me during the day. He will sleep in bed alone for several hours at night. I did nothing to force it.  He's just ready.

For his whole life, really, Our Sweet Baboo wouldn't stay in his stroller for more than ten minutes. He'd fuss and  cry, and then we'd take him out and baby wear. People told us we'd ruin him, that we'd be baby-wearing until he was a toddler and end up breaking our backs, that we should just leave him in there and let him cry until he got used to it. Within the past two weeks, he has been LOVING his stroller. We put him in, and he either sits quietly or babbles happily to himself. The other day he actually fell asleep in it! Again, we did nothing to force it. If he started to cry, we'd take him out as we always have, but he just hasn't been crying. It's been great (and a wonderful relief for my poor, aching back.)

His separation anxiety was just brual. For months, we couldn't leave the room without him crying. No one except The Hubbs and I could hold him without him freaking out. So what did we do? We did what some people would consider coddling him. We wore him a lot. We took him with us from room to room so he wouldn't cry. We didn't leave him with anyone because he just wasn't comfortable. And one of us was always in his sight. And last weekend? We went to visit my mom. He let her hold him. He played with her with no regard for where The Hubbs and I were. We wanted to see what he'd do, so we got in the car. He waved bye bye to us, with a smile. We drove off. When we came back, he was playing with my mom on the porch. He didn't care that we were gone. He gave us big smiles when we got back. The separation anxiety is over. No more crying when we leave the room. No more insisting that we be the only ones to hold him.

I'm proud to say that he made these adjustments all on his own. So while he is refusing the bottle, slapping it away with a big smile, I just shake my head and remind myself "this too shall pass." And it will. Everything else has.

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