A Mother's Advice

I went over to see my mom today. She and dad just got back from their trip to Portland. Portland, Oregon that is. Among the many things we talked about, Brandon's sleeping issue came up. On how he wants to wake up and feed (at least once) every night. Not just feed, but play. I wouldn't mind if he just wanted to cuddle while he fed, but that's not what he wants. He wants to touch my face with his hand or kick at me with his feet. At 3am, I'm not having that. I push his arm away or try holding his arms down, so he gets the idea. He just squeals and squirms harder. Not only does he want to cuddle-feed, he wants to cuddle-feed for what feels like hours. He wants to feed till he falls asleep (which takes forever). If I pull away and he isn't asleep, he squeals and reaches for me. At this point, I am damn near frustrated and give him to Lee to deal with. Lee is the master of finding different ways to calm Brandon. Mostly cause he doesn't have boobs, he has had to learn to find diffferent ways.

To make a long story short, I asked my mom what she did with us (my brothers and I) when we got clingy at night. I specifically asked if she just let us cry it out in our crib until we fell asleep. She said, "Never." Like me, she thought it would be cruel. *I know where I get that from now* Mom just toughed out the nights with all of us. Night time was all business though. Changes and feeds, but not playtime. Eventually we all got the idea. I had to leave before I could get more details. I will talk to her more about what I can do tomorrow.