Patting myself on the back

I had a small breakthrough last night. It was a solo night. Miles ate and went to sleep at 8pm. He woke up to eat at 11pm, no problem. That's 3 hrs. Then he woke up at 1:45. A little less than 3 hrs, not bad. Fed him, back to sleep. Then he woke up at 3:15. That's an hour and a half. Not so good. I fed him and decided that if he woke up again in less than 3 hours I would try to put him back to sleep without nursing.

He woke up at 4:30. A little over an hour. So, okay, he CAN'T really be hungry. At least that is clear. He never eats that often during the day. So I refused to nurse and just patted his butt, rubbed his back, spoke softly, and finally hummed a song. The song put him over the edge and he went back down! Wooooo!

Mr. I has done that for me before when he's here but I never have. It's just so much easier to offer the boob, which takes about 2 seconds. Putting him down without it took probably about 15 minutes, which isn't much time but at 4:30 am when you're tired it seems like an eternity. But it worked! That's a good step in the right direction, as far as weaning him off the frequent comfort nursing. I'm fine to nurse at night within reason, but when he follows that pattern of waking more & more often I know he's not hungry, just having trouble sleeping.