success!

At least - so far.

Hazel is now 11 months old. Some of you know that we've struggled with sleep (both nighttime and naptime) for most of her fabulous little life - whether it was sleeping on her back or her belly, or sleeping in her own bed, or screaming when she was laid down, or whatever... it's been a battle. The kid does not sleep easily.

Given that it's been roughly 7 months since she slept decently at night, I decided about a week ago that we needed to implement some kind of plan or program to try to get our little Nut sleeping through the night, and going to bed at bedtime and naptime without me nursing her to sleep. (She was nursing to sleep every time she went to bed, skipping one nap almost every day, and waking up 2-4 times a night to nurse.)

Last night (the third night of Operation Sleepy Nut) - she fell asleep after crying for about 3 minutes (HUGE improvement) and stayed asleep for 11 straight hours. (Not totally true - she woke up around 10:30, gave 2 little squawks and went straight back to sleep - I didn't even get out of bed). She is currently napping, after fussing for only a couple of minutes (another HUGE improvement) and will likely take a nice afternoon nap as well.

I cannot explain what a difference this has made the past few days. She is nowhere near as cranky - I have time during the day when the house is quiet and "empty" and - most important - I am no longer dreading the naptime/nighttime battle of screaming and tears.

I know we could relapse, and I don't want to jinx anything - but so far, she's done great and Mark and I are so encouraged by the progress... keep it up, little one!!