Bottle Drama

It is 3:56AM as I begin to write this.

Why in the world am I up you may ask.

Well, I was trying to be a good mama, but now I feel  like a bad mama.

I've been wanting to wean Cassidy off her bottle since her first birthday.  I decided that I would wait until I was done with work for the summer so that Colin and I would be working together so that we could be consistent and make this as painless (ha) as possible.

First I would like to say that she only gets bottles at nap and at bedtime (and one time during the night when she wakes up - but that is usually just water).  We've been cutting down the amount of fluid in the bottle for about a month now, but we weren't very good at being consistent with that.  So.  After doing some research (with the majority of people saying that it's not a big deal - let them do it on their own.  But I don't want a 3 year old still having bottles!  anyway . . . . ) I decided that I would dilute the milk (and only offer milk) and then start by cutting out the middle of the night bottle.

Well, tonight was the first night without the middle of the night bottle.  See, I thought that this one was more of a habit than anything else because she almost always woke up between 12 and 12:15 when Daddy gets home from work and then its only water.  So, in my mind - no big deal right.

WRONG.  It's 4:02.  She woke up around 1:45 - and its only in the last 3 minutes that the screaming and crying stopped.

I tried offering a sippy cup.  I tried rocking her.  I tried patting her.

I have NEVER seen my child tantrum the way she did tonight.

We did NOT give in and give her the bottle (because I knew that would just make what we went through worthless by teaching her that if she screamed enough she'd eventually get the bottle).

But boy did I want to.

I feel like a bad mommy, letting her scream and cry like that.  Now I'm questioning myself - wasn't she ready?  Why are you forcing this on her?  Etc.

She's been quiet for almost 10 minutes now.  I think she's finally asleep (I've been fooled before when she paused to gear herself up for round 2 . . . and round 3 . . . and round 1820948092750984302 . . . ).

The question is - do I do it again tomorrow night?