Milk-a-holic

On a non-sick note, we've been joking that Ivan has become a milkaholic. He loves his milk. Loves to go to sleep with his milk. When he sees a bottle of milk, it's "ah, ah, ah....." give me the bottle.

He stopped nursing about a week ago. The last time I tried to get him to nurse was after his bath when he was getting cranky, which until a few weeks ago, was the prime nursing time -- as soon as he'd get out of the tub, he'd want to nurse to calm down even before I could dry him, diaper and dress him. This last time, I showed him the boob and he just looked at me like "what am I supposed to do with that." After that I tried a few times to nurse he while he was asleep but crying, which used to be the times he'd want to nurse. But these last few times, he'd turn away from the boob (while still asleep).

But now at bed time, after we get dressed in our jammies and try to read books, I can't have him see a bottle of milk because he desperately wants it and stops being interested in anything else. I used to resist it, ie not show it to him, until we were done reading, but now I've changed my tactics.

I'm letting him drink the milk, while he's in my lap. While he's not nursing any more, holding him while he's drinking milk and getting all sleepy and drowsy provides the same type of closeness we had while he was nursing. And that's what I really miss. Especially now when it's hard to get him to cuddle or sit still -- there is always something to crawl toward.

My goal is to wean him off going to bed with a bottle of milk but to drink the entire bottle while in my lap before I put him to bed. I need to start brushing his teeth after drinking milk anyway. He used to be able to go to bed without anything and lull himself to sleep, but somehow my parents introduced milk-to-bed scenario a few months ago and now it has become the norm. (When I asked them why, they reminded me that it was because I was freaking out that he wasn't drinking the minimum of 20 oz of formula/milk that everyone said he needed to get)

My baby all growing up.