Hello, sleep.

It's well-known that my kid is not the greatest at sleeping. How we he has functioned the last 2 years on crappy sleeps is beyond me.

Sleep for the first 10-11 months was nonexistant. He started sleeping better once he started walking. Then, molars came and sleep went to hell again and the cycle continued. Again and again.

Then this summer, all hell broke loose.

He wanted to be in our bed. He wanted milk. He wanted me to lay in his room, to hold his hand. To solve world peace.

Then, we started noticing a trend.

I put him to bed. Wah. Wah. Insert hell breaking loose.

Daddy or grandma or random stranger (ok, we don't let random strangers put him to bed but he would sleep better for a stranger than me!!) puts him to bed and he sleeps like a baby should. Well, mostly.

The one thing that was always easy for him (going to sleep, just not staying asleep) was turning into a big, fat fight. It was exhausting.

I knew something had to change.

That brought about, Operation Detox.

Hi. My name is Amy and my kid is a milk addict. He wants it in the morning, the afternoon, after naps and even before bed. Sometimes, he wants it in the middle of the night. The kid would be happy if he had his own damn cow!

I knew there would be crying, screaming and some shaking, which mostly came from me. We are on our 3rd day and the first two were pretty much what I thought they would be.

Typically, he would have a cup of milk before bed. Then, that would lead to a 2nd cup. Then, we would start the rest of his bedtime routine and he would wake up 1-34,3433 times in the middle of the night asking for more. I knew that if we wanted to ever sleep again or for him to ever get potty trained, the milk would have to go.

 It is his equivalent of a lovey or a pacifier.

Yep, sometime he slept with his empty cup, along with 3 choo-choos, a stuffed horse and a cat. I guess the kid likes to be surrounded by things he loves.

Mean mommy cut him off cold turkey. It worked so well when we cut out bottles, I knew this was the way it had to go. Well, not cold, cold. Milk is not off limits during the day.

Then, last night, a miracle happened. He went to bed. He stayed in bed all night. He did wake up at 5 am (Momma, I pee. That indeed he did.) but it didn't matter. He slept.

Now, lets all pray this sticks. I need a few months of sleep before my world is rocked again.

Until then, I'll search for a support group for momma's of milk addicts.