Oh, my feisty Eliza.
Eliza has never been a great sleeper. Since the day she was born, we’ve tried everything to get her to sleep through the night consistently. When we brought her home from the hospital, she slept in a crib with Joey. Joey would nuzzle against her and drift off peacefully. He only woke to eat and would go right back to sleep. He wasn’t huge into fussing. Eliza, on the other hand, was a fuss queen. I’d say she was borderline colicky. Now, this difference in their personalities wasn’t a huge surprise to me. When the babies were in my belly, Joey was always totally mellow. In fact, his heart rate never got quite high enough during my weekly non-stress tests/biophysicals. I always told the nurses, “no biggie, he’s just a mellow dude.” He moved around enough, and was always facing head down – ready to enter the world properly. Eliza, on the other hand, never concerned the nurses. Her heart rate went up and down like a champion, and she moved around like crazy – one week she’d be head down; the next week she’d be breech; the next week we’d find her in a transverse position (horizontal to my body). I knew she’d enter this world with her own agenda. She may be our youngest child, but she’s definitely our strongest…strongest-willed, that is.
Now, despite the myriad of sleep techniques attempted with Eliza, she STILL doesn’t sleep through the night. We have concluded, however, that she sleeps best when she’s alone in the room (we frequently remove Joey when he’s at his wits end with her noise, and put him in a pack ‘n play in our room). It seems Eliza’s incessant talking, whining, and then crying is her way of letting us know it’s her prerogative to have her own room. If she could talk, I feel like she’d flat out say to me, “Mom, I shared the womb. Now I want my own room.” At this point, I don’t know what else to think! She’ll fuss and fuss until we remove Joey from the room…and then she’ll fall right asleep. Is it possible for a baby to exhibit such diva behavior?! In my opinion, yes.
For those of you who have children successfully sharing rooms, I’m super jealous. We’ve tried EVERYTHING to get Eliza to sleep through the night. At this point, my conclusion is that she needs her own room. Tell me I’m crazy! We’re about to remodel our home this winter to add another bedroom…all so Eliza can have her own space. Seriously, am I crazy? I mean, I’m a really (and I mean really) light sleeper. Is it possible Eliza already shares this trait? If we remodel for her and she still doesn’t sleep through the night, I’ll feel like a total boob. Maybe I just need some advice…anyone care to share their thoughts??
