We Are Pleased to Announce

. . . that to celebrate her 13-month birthday, Allison Clare resumed a long-forgotten tradition of sleeping through the night.

Two weeks ago, at her one-year pediatrician's appointment, we got the all-clear to drop her night feedings. Her small size (10-15 percentile) had gotten her an extended grace period on those, but by now, all of us--AC, Sam, me, and even the cat I think--were ready to drop the night feedings. We went to CT for a few days right after the appointment, and then she got sick, postponing things by a bit. I was glad I was still nursing her at that point since she had lost interest in food and drink, so at least this way she was getting some fluids. But still, I was biding my time.

Then this past Friday night, she woke up twice in quick succession, and the second time, nursing wasn't really an option. She screamed for an hour and twenty minutes. Seriously: standing in her crib in the 3 a.m. dark, screaming at the top of her lungs in total, frantic, bloodcurdling rage. Nothing consoled her, but she finally wore herself out and surrendered to sleep. Saturday night, she woke up twice, screamed for 40 minutes the first time, and just cried for 5 minutes the next time. And last night, she slept through, crying a couple of times in her sleep but basically going all the way through to 7:45 a.m.

Weirdly, I slept worse last night than ever in a long time--I was totally wired. I had noticed that nursing her at night gave me a sudden feeling of drowsiness (oxytocin, I guess?), so it's been nice to have a little natural sleep aid . . . but I'll definitely take the trade-off in unbroken hours.