Success!

Caption: Ruby eating dirt. Or, catching her in the act.

Good news: She's sleeping through the night!

Last week we decided I wouldn't go into Ruby's room in the middle of the night. When she woke up, Michael went in to pick her up, soothe her, etc.

The first night she was pretty mad. She cried for a bit and Michael had to go in a couple times. But she finally fell asleep. The first night or two is always the hardest. Since she's a year old, and she obviously didn't need to be nursing throughout the night, it was time to break her habit. I'm not a huge fan of "crying it out," but she's not a newborn and we all needed a better routine.

The next two nights the same thing happened, but she cried a lot less and calmed down much more quickly with Michael.

I never got out of bed.

After three nights of this, she slept 11 hours straight. And last night she did it again, for the second night in a row.

In less than a week we were able to break her of her habit to wake up and cry until I nursed her back to sleep. I think me continuing to nurse her caused her to keep waking up, and as soon as she stopped getting nursed she stopped waking up.

Hopefully this continues. I share this to give my fellow Moms and Dads hope. It's possible! After several months of hesitating because I didn't want to deal with the crying, we are all sleeping better. Ironically, I put up with potentially months of crying and getting up every few hours, when, in 3 nights, she figured out how to sleep.

She is eating tons during the day, and transitioning from two naps to one, so that may be a factor. Either way, we are happy in the Chapman House!