Now girls I must post a disclaimer - I am specifically posting here because I want to know what those who practice gentle parenting think of how we are settling our boy. I specifically would like people to criticise or critique our approach. I am confortable with it, but am always looking for pointers, particularly of the gentle parenting kind.

We have variously rocked, fed, cuddled and patted Flynn to sleep since day one. I think we did what is called controlled comforting when he was really little, but always if he got distressed he was cuddled and put back down in his cot while still awake but calm. He was a very sleepy baby (16-18 hours a day till about 2 months!!) and always easy to settle. I honestly don't think we ever spent more than 20 mins getting him to sleep before the age of about 5 months.

Now he is a bit older he is more testing but we have a nice little routine for him (dinner, play, bath, play, boobie, cuddle, then bed). Often the last part of the routine is stretched out until he sleeps. We sometimes are lucky and he calmly drops off after a feed, and other times he lies in his cot awake, staring off into space, before drifting off to sleep. But about half the time he really cries - often when he is overtired. He will scream while I am holding him and then calms, so I put him down and settle him. If he arcs up again we will wait to see if he settles (maybe for 20-30 seconds) then go in and settle him. Occasionally we will cuddle him again or I'll feed him to sleep, other times we will tuck him back in and shush him to sleep.

Now my question is whether gentle parenting lets a child cry at all. Like I said, when overtired he will scream while I just hold him, so he is the kind of kid who gets real upset when tired (mind you, this is one of the ONLY time he cries - we are real lucky with him).

I really would like to flesh out some opinions here - do you think that it is ever ok to leave a child in a cot while they cry, even for 20 or 30 seconds? Or is that ok so long as they are calmed and cuddled. It is a general discussion I am after, but feel free to use my example as a spring board. I am big enough to take direct criticisms because like I said I am confortable with what I am doing and think it is right for him (he is a very chilled out child) but I am always looking for ways to be a better parent. I am genuinely interested in what you all have to say, and one of the main reason I ask is most of the mums in my mothers group do cc and have not been able to give many pointers.

So bring it on girls, what do you think?