10.01.2009

Late night feedings

I have a confession. I like to eat cookies at 2am while nursing Maya. And I don't brush my teeth afterward. I go right back to bed. (Sometimes still crunching and wiping crumbs from my shirt.) I know Wes is cringing at the thought of this, but I have good reason. Little Maya has a beloved routine. Bed: 8pm. Nurse: 2am. Wake: 7-8am. I usually like to do the waking, rather than being interrupted mid rem-cycle, but there's nothing for it, really. I had been nursing her right before I went to bed at midnight. But then she was up at 2am ready for more. And then maybe again at 4, if I was really lucky. Not working for me. So now I just let her sleep, turn on the monitor and hope for the best. The best always comes at about 3. Every night. On one 3am occasion, I zombied into Maya's room and lifted little snuggle bug out of her crib. We plopped down in the rocker to nurse (I know one of these days I am going to miss the rocker altogether and hit the deck). She was rooting around, snorting angrily. My head lolled on the back of the chair, and I repositioned her. She fussed and crunched. Come on, Maya. I admit I even sort of shoved her little groggy head against me hoping she would figure this out before I fell asleep myself. Why wasn't she latching on, for goodness sakes? I'll tell you why! I HADN'T EVEN PULLED UP MY SHIRT! She was trying to nurse through PJs, various underthings, and nursing pads, the poor dear! That's how tired I was. Well, we worked that out, and the next night I grabbed a few cookies to keep me awake. Munch. Nurse. Beautiful! Worked like a charm. I'm not going back. I just put Maya to bed, and I am already looking forward MY late night feeding: Vanilla Trader Joe's "Joe-Joe's." Mmmmmmmm....

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Tiffany M. said...

Luckily Trader Joe's has so many cookies to choose from. You probably won't run out before Maya stops nursing!

Christina said...

shameful!

but hilarious!

Ali said...

my choice of snack was a pop tart. Glad I'm not the only one who munched at midnight. And I didn't brush my teeth again either. My dentist yelled at me.

Maria said...

I say whatever you have to do to keep yourself awake at night to feed her. I know how hard it was dragging my butt out of bed to nurse in the middle of the night, so I feel your pain. Enjoy your cookies, and to heck with brushing your teeth afterward - I wouldn't either! :)

Babeich said...

I miss you - I love that this is the most scandelous confession that you have. ;) Thanks for sharing your stories - I love reading your blog!

Kristina said...

Oh my gosh! I totally remember those days. I'm not looking forward to the barely moving, thinking, breathing sleep state that another little one will bring back to me soon. However, I'm with Wes on the not brushing your teeth again. I can't stand the feel of a sugary mouth! Though the cookies would be nice...

dandee said...

You are a better woman than me.

This is our routine:

I pull Oliver from his bed, bring him to mine, nurse him until we are both asleep, wake up an hour later, put him back into his bed...repeat.

Eating cookies sounds like a better plan.

mammakasparian said...

Ah, sleep deprivation makes you do silly things! Cookies are always a good idea:) I think I will start leaving snacks in Christopher's room to pep me up when needed.

gina said...

I discovered the Twilight series right before my daughter was born. When my daughter would wake up to nurse, I would jump up, turn on the lamp, and read while nursing... Cookies/Edward- almost the same thing.

Brie said...

Cookies, so now you tell me! When my now 29 m/o was midnight nursing I tried to read to keep myself up. Usually it worked. The one night it didnt I somehow slept through my poor abused(serious latching issues) nipple cracking and bleeding all in one go. I woke up to my little one with a cheek covered in blood. ECH!
This post made me laugh so hard. And it made me wish (once again) for Trader Joes to come to florida already!

Angela said...

I say nursing mothers live by a special set of night laws that we dictate and no man may judge. My night-self struggles to remember which side I'm feeding from next, so I took up a "boob ring" - which I wear on whichever hand indicates which breast my little girl's to start on. I smirk whenever people comment on it, "Oh, that's nice!" Yes, yes, "nice" indeed.

- A chickadee down in NZ

P.S. Found you via a button on a friend's page, checked you out, then moaned, "Great, just what my Reader needs". /sigh...another addition to the burgeoning ranks of online admiration. Love your writing style.