At one year’s old, Nathaniel broke himself of the bottle habit. Our only contribution to the process was our lazy inconsistency. Sometimes we’d wash a bottle for him, sometimes we’d give him a sippy cup. The same laissez faire attitude was attached to his pacifier, another habit he broke himself of. I suspect there is no “one right way” for all children, but this “come si, come sa” approach has seemed to work with him. Potty training is moving slowly forward using a similar method…great praise when he uses the potty, but no pressure and no big deal when he doesn’t. “Whatever!”
But, will this lazy parenting style work for eliminating bedtime resistance and “nocturnal visits”? I confess I am a-feared. Consistency is impossible because most nights I love falling asleep with him, or having him snuggle the night through with us. Of course, this leaves me out of luck those times that I need more elbow room or when I want him to go to sleep alone because I have things to do later in the evening.
Sometimes he sleeps all night in his own bed. Can I just wait him out until he “trains himself” to mostly stay in his own bed with just occasional visits to us? Or maybe we should just get a bigger bed…
