Clarrie, glad you're feeling better now that you've shirked the purveyors of old wives' tales! 'Bad habits'...what ARE these? And what's 'bad' in a tiny, little baby who doesn't know any rules in order to be breaking them? You're doing the right thing by your little one - just keep listening to her
Right from the start I let go of any concept of 'self-settling' and I only put Oscar down to sleep when he's asleep. But that's just me. If you're going to try it, what you are doing now seems to be the way to go. I've heard good things about PeaceBaby.
My mothers group thinks I'm weird cos I can't participate in their conversations about crying it out, scheduling and routines...but we're still meeting up, so if I'm asked to 'leave the island' I'll know they actually have a problem with my 'hippie' ideals!
My health nurse knows better than to show me the 'right way', since I practically cooed to Oscar the whole way through the Jennifer Keyte video during the initial sessions...she knows I'm going to do my own thing and that it is not to the detriment of my boyo.
The best gauge is your baby. The pressure to do what other parents do is huge...and for what? You'll find, that upon probing, they are not happy doing these things a lot of the time, and feel they can't trust their own instincts so they listen to someone apparently more qualified than they (i.e. health nurse). As much as people reckon they know babies, THEY are not YOUR baby's mummy...and that is a huge difference, realising this will help you ride the peer/health nurse pressure wave