Britney Spears was stripped of her custody rights and granted only monitored visitation of sons Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, ten days ago, but her luck changed yesterday when she was allowed overnight visits with her children.

Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Scott Gordon stripped 25-year-old mother-of-two Britney Spears of custody rights after deeming her a “habitual, frequent and continuous” drug and alcohol abuser.

Former husband Kevin Federline received custody of sons Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, while Britney was merely allowed supervised visitation rights and court-ordered to take semi-weekly drug tests.

Thursday however things changed slightly for the better, with Commissioner Gordon allowing sleepovers for the troubled singer and her toddler sons. He agreed to grant her one overnight visit per week, on condition that a court-approved monitor is present the entire time.

“Time with dad and mom is extremely important,” Commissioner Gordon is quoted as saying Thursday by the New York Daily News. “At the same time, if a person is dealing with challenges - substance issues and emotional issues - this can absolutely affect the children and have a devastating effect.”

The next court hearing is scheduled for Oct. 26. Britney has been ordered to attend at least three joint counseling sessions with Federline, another three individual sessions, as well as twice-weekly random testing for drugs and alcohol, by that time.

If she follows through with these instructions, the judge may approach the singer’s visitation rights with more lenience.

While Britney’s chaotic personal life struggles on, her career has not been put on hold. On contraire, her comeback album, “Blackout,” will be released earlier than planned, via Jive Records

The original release date was Nov. 13 but online leakage of some of the tracks has determined her label to speed up things to an Oct. 30 date. Jive is thus attempting to prevent further unauthorized leaks and to avoid illegal distribution of songs.

No official track list has been released for “Blackout” but according to Billboard, the album is known to include the songs “Heaven on Earth,” “Radar,” “Piece of Me,” “Break the Ice,” and the single “Gimme More.”

“Gimme More” benefits from its singer’s controversial performance at the MTV Video Music Awards in September, as well as from a raunchy, stripper-act video.

Britney married 29-year-old Kevin Federline in October 2004. He originally worked as a back-up dancer for the pop princess when she was at the height of her career. They soon welcomed two babies. Britney filed for divorce last November.

When their divorce became official on July 30 this year, the former spouses shared legal and physical custody of the boys. Federline, father to two other children by a former girlfriend, filed for sole custody a few days later.