Sleeping Babies

When Connor was a baby I often heard rumors about "good" babies--the ones who "slept through the night" at six weeks old (yeah right) or who didn't cry uncontrollably or who didn't nurse for three hours at a time. I didn't believe the rumors.

Connor was so difficult that Lee and I were dreading the first year with Laila. It took us two years before we even considered having another baby. But we assumed we would survive it, and we assumed it would be worth it. Besides, I reasoned, it can't be any worse than Connor.

"But what if it's like Connor," Lee would argue.

I spent the remaining months of my pregnancy in anticipation and dread. If I could have skipped the entire first year, I believe I would have.

Laila came three weeks early, and she has been an absolute dream. She is the happiest baby I know. She seldom cries. She never nurses for more than 15 minutes, and she is usually finished in about 5-10 minutes. She plays with toys. She coos and babbles. She laughs uncontrollably at her big brother. She loves getting kisses.

About two or three weeks ago she started sleeping in her crib. She had been sleeping with me, but around five months old she became obsessed with crawling and started waking at 3:00 a.m. to practice. I was terrified she would scoot off the bed and I couldn't sleep with her constant movement, so I decided to try putting her in her own room.

I never thought it would work. When Connor was a baby I read several different books and tried several different sleep methods. None of them worked. Connor slept with us until he was 15 months old. I assumed Laila would sleep in our bed for at least a year.

But she has been sleeping in her room for several weeks now. And she has been sleeping through the night. We put her down around 8:30-9:30 p.m.. She usually wakes up around 11:00 p.m.; I change her diaper, rock her back to sleep, and she sleeps until the next morning. This morning I went in her room at 8:30 and she was playing in her crib, laughing and smiling at herself in the mirror. I am amazed.

I must confess I was a little saddened by it at first. I have such fond memories of sleeping with Baby Connor. I love waking and having a baby snuggled next to me.

But it is nice to be able to sleep at night. And it's even nicer to be able to rock her to sleep, put her in her crib, and have the evening to myself.

Laila is six months old now. It has flown by faster than I imagined. And it has been better than I ever expected.

Kind of makes me wish we were having another one....