Sleeping... Trials and Triumphs

My daughter has not slept consistently in any pattern since birth. She is now 8 months old and has not even made any attempts at sleeping through the night. My son was sleeping through the night by the time he was 3 months old and did so consistently unless he was sick. Why, oh why then has it taken my little girl so long to figure things out? I don't have all the answers, but I do know that I am finally figuring out how to be the boss. She's a baby and, as such, has no real idea what is best for her. I am an adult, and I have done reading upon reading upon studying upon praying and I know what is best. At least I aim to know.

We began the weaning-to-a-bottle process about a month ago with one difficult day followed by days and days of success. Finally, I decided that it would be best for both of us if I continued to pump, and my daughter continued to eat from a bottle full-time. This began last week and has been so successful, I'm not sure why I didn't do it sooner. She has just started taking two actual long naps and last night she slept through the night. When I began pumping, I was only producing between 3 to 4 ounces of milk per side. She was only eating on one side each feeding. If I did more than that, my body would not produce the milk she needed. Now she is drinking 8 ounces of milk/formula each time she eats which is about 3 to 4 times a day! No wonder my little girl was so irritable! No wonder she refused to sleep!

With all of this success, I can hardly believe that I waited so long to start feeding her this way. Part of me feels guilty that I couldn't continue to feed her from the breast, but in the long run, it is more important that she develops good sleeping habits. If that means she eats from a bottle, then that's what we're going to do. The bottom line: Guilt is normal, but doesn't accomplish much more than making me depressed. I'll allow myself to be sad about it, but I'm not getting carried away. Little Sis is happier, and that's all that really matters.