Shell, I hope you've had a better night last night.

IMHO your friend is lucky if she's got a bub that has slept 12hours a night since 6 weeks. She'll might claim it's science & discipline, I think "luck of the draw". The thing is that for the people who do get babies who sleep well it's easy to be proud and loud, it's a kind of parenting boast. But I think that it's the parents of the non sleepers who should be boasting, because lets face it, we're accomplishing just as much, but on so much less sleep - that's a waaay bigger challenge.

And FWIW - your gentle approach to soothing her, even though it's enormously hard on you at times, is probably creating a secure, happy little girl, who knows that her mum can be relied upon, a good thing I think.