We changed the clocks back on Sunday, and already it feels like a sudden plummet into winter. The dark, it makes me sleepy. And cold. Already I feel the urge to huddle around the radiator for warmth (since my fireplace probably doesn't function and is blocked off with a really ugly tile which I painted over immediately upon moving in.) Botany's grandmother keeps knitting these funny hats for her; the designs are sweet but are about six sizes too big. I'm wearing one now, plunked on top of my head in my chilly study.
Thanks to a dedicated approach to bedtime scheduling, we survived the time change transition with almost no problems whatsoever. I just kept pushing Botany's sleepytime fifteen minutes later each night and on Saturday managed to keep her up until 9pm. That was the worst of it, actually- she had woken up at 6am, had a one hour nap and it felt like the day was just.never.going.to.end. It was worth it though when she slept in until 7am on the new timetable.
I may have mentioned this here, briefly, or elsewhere but the gadget which has helped enormously with our sleep battles is the Gro-Clock. Oh, it is a thing of fabulousness. I'm not sure you can easily acquire them in the States or Canada, but if you can get your hands on one, I highly recommend it.* Basically, it's a jazzier version of what I was proposing to do with the blue light on a timer; that is, teach Botany that when the light comes on, I will come in. It has sun image settings and moon image settings; all you do is switch to the night time setting at bedtime and the sun does this little sleepy wink, goes away and a blue half moon (and countdown stars) come out. In the morning, at the pre-set time of your choosing, the sun automatically comes back up. It was relatively simple to convey the concept to Botany, but for added assistance, the clock comes with a small board book with a cute story about a sleepy pig.
I gave it to Botany for her second birthday, and it took a couple of weeks before she seemed to fully understand. The key, it seemed, was to be completely consistent about not going in to get her until the sun came up on the clock. Initially, in order to avoid a long hideous early morning crying session, it meant choosing an appropriately early wake up time so that she didn't have to lie there for ages, awake and waiting for me to come in. Gradually, I started setting the timer a bit later and now she quite often just sleeps through the wake-up sun changeover.
I won't pretend it's a magic wand; there are still the odd occasions where she might wake up, either in the middle of the night or very early in the morning. On the whole, we've noticed a huge difference. Sometimes I hear her stirring in the crack of dawn and I still hold my breath. Sometimes I think she's probably awake and reading a book in her cot (or perhaps doing the crossword). But she usually stays quiet and often it does seem like she goes back to sleep and ultimately, I don't really mind what she does in there, as long as I don't have to go in to start the day before 6am.
The other thing which doesn't seem to have made all that much difference is that we have finally done away with the morning nursing session once and for all. It took about two weeks, with the odd relapse, to break the habit- and in the end, I was convinced that habit was all that it was. Part of my decision to persist with the early morning weaning was, admittedly, down to the ongoing difference of opinion between Knox and myself on the subject and my secret and somewhat childish desire to demonstrate that Botany's early waking had nothing to do with boobs and that I was right, right, right. But I stress that I wouldn't have done it unless I felt like the end consequence- that is, that she would effectively be more or less totally weaned as a result- was the right way to go at this point. And you know, I did feel that way.
There was one morning when we sat together for ages and she would not let go and basically gnawed on me, while attempting endless spare nipple twiddling (a quirk that I used to tolerate but which was gradually starting to make me want to climb out of my freaking skin). It had none of the pleasure and sweetness that our bedtime nursing still has. And I thought to myself- "I am starting to detest this, and we're going to be late for work/nursery again, and I am done."
She kicked up a fuss for awhile, that is, until she discovered the alternate joys of back rubbing ("Fingernails, Mummy! Use fingernails!") and in the end, it was so much easier than I had anticipated.
So, we're really down to one nursing session just before bedtime. With varying degrees of tolerance, Botany will allow other people, including Knox, to put her to bed if I need or want to be elsewhere, so I see no overwhelming reason to stop until she's more ready. Some nights, she doesn't even ask, so I am pretty sure we will get there before too long.
*The only criticism I would make about the clock is that the back lighting is adjustable but when even when it is on on the dimmest setting, it can seem quite bright in a dark room. This worried me initially, that Botany would be awakened but it doesn't seem to be causing a problem, especially as it's more of an ambient sort of light and I have the clock positioned such that her head is still lying in shadow. Oh, and if they could come up with a remote control to change the pre-set times without having to go in, that would be absolute genius.