Sammie - you're not being a terrible mum, you're just a mum in a bit of a predicament. I'm another mum who basically doesn't let DS cry, and when he's letting rip in the car it's the worst. My reaction has always depended on how far we had left to go as to which was the greater evil - letting him cry or taking longer to get to where I was going. Wherever possible, I try to time my longer drives for sleep times, with a feed before we leave, but sometimes it just doesn't work that way.

Also, I absolutely, 100 million per cent don't subscribe to controlled crying, or whatever it gets called, but I do know that if my DS does cry for 10-15 minutes once in a blue moon, he's not going to be irreperably emotionally damaged, because it's an exception, rather than the rule. And bollocks to people saying you're creating a rod for your own back by responding to your DD's crying - I think you're creating a secure, happy and confident kid who realises that if they have a need that someone will look after them.