Ruth woke up at 4:30 this morning to nurse. Lately she's been waking up at least three times a night to nurse, which hasn't been too bad, since we co-sleep and we both wake minimally. But this morning was different. She kicked and slapped and mumbled and all kinds of I hate you, and then refused to settle down afterwards, getting up to play. Steve took her and tried to soothe her, but no go. So into the crib she went, and cried for a solid 15 minutes.
I picked her up, and she was instant silence. At first it seemed she would sleep again, but when I brought her back to bed, it was playtime all over.
"All right, that's it, we're up." I said. Steve protested vehemently, but I didn't see how we were going to force her to be sleepy if 15 minutes of full-fledged screaming, followed by nursing and cuddling, didn't do it.
"That doesn't make senes, honey," I said. "She'll cry for who knows how long, we'll both be awake, and then where will we be? Go back to sleep. I'll stay up." Poor guy didn't get to bed 'til 2 AM.
Granted, I'm wicked tired, and this is going to simply KILL my functionality today, but at least she will eventually tire and then we can both go back to bed.
...
Addendum: Other than this episode, things sleep-wise have been slowly but surely progressing towards more independence. She cries at naptime sometimes, but usually settles within 10 minutes. Going down at night is infinitely easier--maybe a little crying here and there, but she settles on her own. And sometimes she doesn't even wake when I bring her into bed with me around 11 at night. Sometimes, I guess, she just wants to shake things up.