diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 3ba7cc7f..d9d2f068 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # Unreleased
 
 - [FIXED] Correctly raise exceptions from `create_database` calls.
+- [FIXED] Fixed authentication with CouchDB for option require_valid_user
 
 # 2.12.0 (2019-03-28)
 
diff --git a/src/cloudant/_client_session.py b/src/cloudant/_client_session.py
index f6339ed2..6e6248f3 100644
--- a/src/cloudant/_client_session.py
+++ b/src/cloudant/_client_session.py
@@ -151,6 +151,7 @@ def login(self):
             'POST',
             self._session_url,
             data={'name': self._username, 'password': self._password},
+            auth=(self._username, self._password)
         )
         resp.raise_for_status()
 
@@ -158,7 +159,12 @@ def logout(self):
         """
         Logout cookie based user.
         """
-        resp = super(CookieSession, self).request('DELETE', self._session_url)
+        resp = super(CookieSession, self).request(
+                                                  'DELETE', 
+                                                  self._session_url,
+                                                  data={'name': self._username, 'password': self._password},
+                                                  auth=(self._username, self._password)
+                                                 )
         resp.raise_for_status()
 
     def request(self, method, url, **kwargs):