dare I say it?

I'm not trying to rub it in anyone's face, but Charlotte started sleeping through the night on August 21st, and hasn't awakened for a middle-of-the-night feeding since (knock on wood, throw salt over my shoulder, somebody rub a rabbits foot for me please). She consistently has her last meal of the day between 6:30 and 7:30, then goes to bed between 7 and 8:00. She semi-wakes up at about 5am, tosses and turns a bit without making a sound, and goes back to sleep until after 6. That's 10-11 hours of sleep every night! All it took to make the transition from one nighttime feeding to none was ME not picking her up as soon as she made a peep. Yes, it was all my fault that she didn't start sleeping through the night sooner.

In my defense, I did try not immediately responding to her at the end of July. I listened to her and watched the monitor, and after a few minutes she started to cry. So, I fed her and she immediately went back to sleep and I thought to myself that I could live indefinitely with one nighttime feeding. It was nice to have that very peaceful snuggle time, watching her doze off at my breast. And as long as she wasn't sleeping through the night, I could continue to think of her as my tiny newborn baby. Now, she's an all-grown-up nearly-6-month-old who goes to "school" two days each week and sleeps like a big kid.

How did this happen?