Yesterday I spent my only break of the day while 14 month old DD was asleep listening to my aunt tell me that I'm an overprotective, over-attentive, over-anxious mother that is smothering my child and that this is why she is such a demanding toddler and that my life is going to be hell when the next baby comes along in July. (I know - more fool me for listening). And this is the seriously abbreviated version. The lecture went on for about half an hour until I was so speechless with tears that I had to hang up the phone. But I feel like my parenting style has been shaped by my DD to a certain extent. Yes, I give her a lot of attention. But what else are you supposed to do when she's hanging off you screaming for it? And then it becomes a bit of a habit and you find yourself avoiding trying to do a lot while they're up because you know it just involves a lot of whinging, screaming and interruptions. So I do admit I tend to do a lot of child-centred stuff when she's awake. Does anyone have any thoughts about whether this is really a situation of my own making? And I would like to encourage more independence but no-one can seem to really suggest how. Help?