hi guys.
our bedtime routine has been the same since our lo was about 2 months old. dinner with breastfeed just before or after, playtime (about 45 min), bath, BF (as a topup) with soft music on, lights off, to bed awake. it works beautifully. and i love the BF part.
this week, in preparation for saturday (dh and i are going out, and mother in law is doing the whole thing) dh did bedtime routine and replaced BF with a bottle. i know we haven't given lo a bottle consistently every so often, but he did take it most of the time from either him or other people when it WAS offered. this week (we tried mon and wed nights) he wasn't having any of it. dh said as soon as bottle touched his lips he cried. he basically cried himself to almost sleep on dh's shoulder. the thing is, both nights we expected him to wake up earlier for the morning BF, but he actually slept a bit longer than normal! which brings me to the next part:
knowing that teeth are on their way (being a dentist's wife i just can't put lo to bed after BF without brushing the tooth), i know i should probably just skip the BF (since he doesn't need it), just do bath and then bed with something in between, but i'm at a loss as to what. reading books won't work, cause he usually just wants to chew on them, and rocking him in a chair doesn't work cause he climbs all over me, and it's just too similar to BF, it'll just make him upset. for naptimes i just bring him upstairs and put him to bed without anything else, but i always feel night bedtime should be somewhat different. any advice on a routine?
or should i keep the BF since it's soothing to both of us, and then just sneak some water and fingerbrush in there. will dropping the BF be easier at this age than later?
i'm so torn, i'm already grieving and sad. i'm gonna have a serious problem giving up breastfeeding!!!!!