hey granolamom

Body: 

hi. i was just checking out old posts and you mentioned (i think almost two years ago) that you were trying to quit caffeine. i think what i have read recently in my bladder irritant posts that you are caffeine free!!!! how did you finally succeed. i find with my sleep deprivation (due to my lovely 14 week old), that i cannot go without caffeine. others mentioned tea, which for the bladder is still an irritant and has caffeine in it. i typically drink several cups...but they are part caf, part decaf. i would miss the ritual...smell, etc. what was your secret???

I dont drink coffee - But in this past year I gave up diet coke (mainly to save my teeth lol ) and then I noticed the need to pee was less urgent and isrritated feeling some days - Also I do notice if i drink lotsa tea I feel the same :-( I have really gotten used to drinking water (that clear stuff ya know lolllll)

I feel alot better for it...

Sue

Look into the eyes - They hold the key!
http://www.bringmadeleinehome.com/img/maddy544x150Banner.jpg

hey sue, i have never been much of a soda person myself, and drink loads of water. but can't kick the caffeine thing just yet. truly helps me get going in the am after being up all night. however, news flash!!! i just came from the health food store, and there is a coffee which states it has 50% less acidity in it. apparently acid is one of the main culprits in making coffee and other food/drink irritate the bladder.
by the way, i saw many gals have been using rasberry tea as which is reportedly a uterine support. i just bought some, but it doesn't say anything on the label about making ice tea. also don't know if it is a bladder irritant...probably, but will have to see. can't imagine having tea when it is 90 degrees out. any suggestions anyone?

I'll be honest, It was HARD
I weaned myself down from 3 cups of coffee per day to 1/2 cup and then stopped it altogether. I had terrible headaches for a week, which I took tylenol for. usually I avoid painkillers, but I felt I needed it or I'd go right back to the coffee. I had some motivation, as I was preparing for a religious day of fasting, so I wanted to be headache-free while fasting. that day came and went, but we had another coming up so I decided to stay off the caffeine. after that I figured, stay off another day, and another and another. It took three months until the cravings were gone, and by then I realized I had three menstrual cycles without cramps. amazing since not only had I been suffering with cramps since my first period, but I never was so regular. I also cut out dairy at the same time, so I'm not sure what did it, but I have read that caffeine can make pms and cramps worse.

my dh still has his morning coffee. at first I was having decaf with him, but first, I think there's caffeine in the decaf and second, decaf coffee s*cks. so now I have herbal tea, but not before sniffing dh's freshly ground beans ::::::mmmmmmmmm:::::::

and I drink hot tea in the summer. I don't like it iced, not the same. might as well have ice water with lemon.

this is the first time I've been caffeine free with a newborn. so now, when I am exhausted I must either get sleep or help. I think its a much healthier lifestyle than guzzling a cuppa coffee to keep my eyes open. another thing, when I have a needy newborn around (and my newborns have all been high needs) I have trouble finding time to eat. if I'm on coffee, it suppresses my appetite and I can go days without eating much. not good for me, not good for my nurslings.

I do miss the coffee, but I know I'm better off without it.

Has anyone tried Kalahari Red tea? It has a lot of the same stuff green tea has. It tastes a lot stronger than green tea, and would be a good sub for coffee.

Directions for making hot tea cold. Boil water and double your tea to water ratio. Let your tea steep for about ten minutes. Pour over ice cubes. Make a pot of tea; it's savable.

Judy

Change what you can change; be happy with what you cannot.

When I gave up caffeine I found that if i instead drank TONS of high vitamin smoothies, that then i didn't feel the effects so much. I remember Vitamin C rich ones really helped.
Perhaps try that?
One thing to keep in mind with caffeine...if you have one cup a day for a while, you need one cup just to keep you feeling "normal", not to give you an added buzz. to get the added buzz, you need two cups. so you drink two a day, and after a while need three...
I have a baby who really doesn't sleep & an older one who is veyr high need (but luckily sleeps!). some days all DS2 has is a 30 minute nap, and at night wakes up every 30 min - 2 hours...

however, now that i am eating SOOO much better, i really am able to survive most days. if it's really bad i have a drink of decaf coffee with a bit of sugar, but only on really bad days.
eating really well definately is what's made surviving my beautiful, non sleeping babe possible...

good luck!

Hi Kiki

Our two boys, now 25 and 20 were both frequent night wakers. I always says that the older one finally slept throught the night by the age of about 5. You are not alone. He used to get up during the night for a wee, and I finally decided that he was 'sleeping through' one summer when he started not going back to bed after getting up for his nighttime wee. It was about 5am but he was now in charge of it so it didn't bother me.

The younger one was more like your younger son. He was a restless nighttime snacker for the first couple of years but weaned during the night at about 2 years of age. He weaned completely by about 2 years 9 months. However his nighttime waking continued past night weaning and we finally realised that his ears had been keeping him awake. I would guess that the sucking and immunoglobulins in breastmilk had been keeping infections at bay, and soothing him but without these two factors he started developing ear infections. By the time he went to pre-primary the year he turned five he must have had some hearing loss, which did not surprise me as he had always been a bit of a grumpy toddler, but he had a good vocabulary which is a bit unusual in a toddler with hearing problems. I guess we were always jabbering on to each other so he got lots of conversation practice! He was diagnosed with serious glue ear about halfway through that year.

The end of this story is that ear discomfort can be the cause of night waking in babies and toddlers, but it can be very hard to pick, particularly if the little one is still breastfed.

Cheers

Louise