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After Emma waking 6 times in the night the first night in Tassie I thought we were in for a rough holiday at Mum's but she got used to the change of scenery and settled into only two to three wakings. On one night she even woke twice but put herself to sleep - without me needing to get up! She hasn't repeated that performance since :(

Mum was very supportive while we were staying with her even though she was just as perplexed as me with what to do because her three girls, especially my sister Alison were really good sleepers from quite early on. Why, Emma, did you not inherit those genes?

"My goal is to help you and your baby sleep all night - without either of you crying along the way." from the No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley. By the way all those new Mums-to-be that I know, I greatly recommend this book and please read a copy before baby arrives so that you start off with good habits. p64-89 especially for newborns. It makes it easier than trying to correct later. So far I have found it to be the most obvious explanation of what to do to avoid a lot of problems. Other books etc mentioned what to do but I just failed to translate it into practice until this book.

I was going to be a little tougher from today and not succumb to using the boob to soothe to sleep during the day. At least then we would have a no boob strategy for when I start going to work next week - Arrgg! I can't do the controlled crying / leave her alone to cry it out strategy at all so if Emma is upset, and it is not the boob for comfort, then I am holding her in my arms, patting and saying comforting things. I won't be as able to resist the boob in the middle of the night though. The crying seems so much louder when you are half asleep and the whole house is quiet - plus the neighbours said this morning that they could hear Emma in the night! I didn't know that before - no pressure of course.

We are still persisting with the Pantley pull off technique though so far with mixed success. I keep needing to re-read the book to commit back to my plan and check that I am doing the right thing as it is taking a while and I get disheartened every couple of weeks and tempted to use more crying and be tougher. Today the Maternal Child Nurse said the best solution was to get tougher. "Just think about what message you are sending when you always offer the boob". ie how will she learn not to expect it each time. Hmm maybe the message is Mummy is not going to comfort you when your really upset even if she knows how to. If you are going to go down the no cry path then you really need a copy of the book to re motivate as there is so much advice out there that encourages crying.

Still the no cry solution is a more long term one so it can't be rushed. Emma will sort this out in her own time. She went down so well tonight. I told her a story about everything we did today after her bedtime goodnight to all her toys and at the end, when she was calm, I put her in her bed. I tucked her in finishing the story and she fussed for a while and wriggled then settled down to sleep. So good. Hmm maybe it will be a good sign for tonight...