Emma, I agree with so much of what's been said - I have been and still am going through something a little similar here myself...

I definitely think you should not worry about what is 5months in the future - this time between 6-12 months is just sooo massive it's hard to comprehend - I have found that my DD has changed sooo much in this time in so many ways, including feeding / settling / sleeping (not all for the "better" I must say!!)

Like you, I started to worry about returning to work a few months ago - I am about to start a new job 2 days/wk next week!!

Although we don't BF to sleep very often, DD does need a LOT of help to get to sleep.

I actually found that the idea of a "timeline" to get DD to learn to self settle just put way too much pressure on both of us and I'm not sure if this stress (which I think she picked up on in me) was the only reason, but her sleeping went all over the place for a while. Before Christmas I came to the realisation that without going the CC route (totally not an option for us) DD was unlikely to learn this very difficult skill in the time left.

I found that when I started to calm down, accept how things were for now and go with the flow, both of our lives improved!!

And you don't really seem to be having any problems with what you are doing, so I say, keep going and enjoy him while he's a baby!

Last week was DD's 1st test at family day care and she didn't sleep (the carer cuddled her like I do, got her to sleep in her arms, but DD foiled her at the put-down in the cot phase - cheeky!) but the carer seems really patient and sensitive to our philosophies etc... and we are going to give it a few more weeks.

I guess the other thing is to make sure you find the right people to care for Joshua - although I've ended up in family day care, I also found some wonderful CCC out there who are happy to help babies to sleep.

All the best.