I am a mom who believes on letting
children take their own pace in learning and developing.
When Neo was almost a year, everyone
was telling us (Leo and me) that Neo should be walking already. I would always answer “let Neo learn in his
own pace, after all, if he learned to walk, you won’t be the one who’ll get
tired of running after him”. He learned
to walk when he reached one year old.
When Neo was a year and a half,
everyone was telling us that Neo should be talking already. I would answer in the same manner “let Neo
learn in his own pace, after all, if he learned to talk, you won’t be the one
who’ll get tired of listening to his endless chatter”. He is starting to converse at age two.
Now, at the age of 2 years old, Neo
still drinks milk at night time.
Following my philosophy, I should be saying “let Neo wean at his own
pace, after all, we will surely miss preparing milk when we weans”. But that is not the case. At age two years and four months, Neo weighs
20 kilos. He is borderline overweight
and obese. We should be doing something.
So after 2 weeks, I am proud to say
that Neo is no longer drinking milk during night
time. He sleeps soundly from night to
day.
How did we do it?
· Establish
rules – these rules are for Ate Espie, Leo, and me. No one will give Neo the milk during
nighttime. We have to control our pity
when Neo cries during the night for his milk bottle.
·
No
starving before bedtime – normally, we allow Neo to drink milk during the time
he wants. We don’t force him to eat dinner
because he doesn’t like the food. But
now, we let him join us at dinner table a so he can eat dinner too. This way he won’t be hungry at night.
·
Let
Neo on the game – establishing rules for Neo is a must too. We have to explain to him that he will no
longer drink milk at night because there is no milk prepared for him.
· Praise
for a job well done – we always ensure that Neo gets all the appreciation he
deserve for any job he has done well, this is no exception.
How about you? Can you share some tips on helping your child
have a good night sleep through stopping night feeding?
