I notice what I am specifically working on right now is having a stretch during the day of at least 8 hours when my son does not nurse. This usually happens, but sometimes we are a little shy of that. I want to push the boundary here a little more and encourage it to happen all the time.

He is pretty good at not nursing again after he goes to bed (between bedtime and midnight). Occasionally, he does want a second nursing before the official end of the day, and this is the nursing I have been working with him to let go of.

When he does not wake up after going to bed, I experience such freedom and tranquility! I let myself fully experience this last night. There were some rumblings, and I thought he might wake up and want some assistance, but he did not. He put himself back to sleep every time. Whew! I thankfully slept a deep sleep of relief.

After we get through these two goals, I will be able to see where we are and choose what is next. Often he wakes in the early morning, though I know he is capable of sleeping through the night without any help. He has been able to do this since he was 3 months old! There is the wake up nursing in the morning and after nap, though he does not need these all the time. Lastly, there are the before nap and before bedtime nursings. Again, he does not need these all the time either. He is probably more attached to the before bedtime nursing though, so that is something for me to keep in mind.

However this weaning process goes, I am trusting the flow. His happiness and easy attitude today are very validating for me to see. He is doing fine! Thriving really. I love his smile. I love his playfulness, and I love that I get to experience all this with him. He is growing up into an even more delightful child, and yes… I am a beaming mom!