thanks for your replies. i really like the ideas about starting her off in her cot but i am a bit scared to try it because i know from past experience that she will basically wake straight back up and then i will have to rock her to sleep again for another 20 minutes!!! (just when i get sleepy too) i guess i will have to bite the bullet and try it, she might surprise me.

i would like to put the cot next to our bed as well as astrid suggested but we have a wooden frame which means the cot doesnt sit flush up against the mattress but causes a space which could be pretty dangerous.

it is a bit disappointing that the GP said this as i was just beginning to think i had found a good one. she was supportive of me when in the early months when DD suffered from reflux and this was the only way to get her to sleep soundly, but now that i said I LIKE it then it is a problem?? wierd!