I've been thinking about this overnight. We finally had a bad night last night- it was 30 degrees C in Sophie's room plus she has molars breaking through the gum, so I guess it's understandable! As a result I spent a couple of hours sitting in Sophie's room trying to settle her down, before I gave up and brought her out to sleep in my room under the air conditioner.

Anyway, I thought it was worth clarifying that the Dream Baby Guide DOES recommend (after you work through a good couple of weeks of communication, role play and teaching your child to trust their bed) that you leave them alone in their cot and manage their crying. The aim is that they'll understand just what you're asking them to do, and that the crying will be short-lived and cranky only as a result, but still- it DOES ask you to leave them to cry in one form.

I just felt like I should clarify this lest anyone think I'm misrepresenting what it says in the book. I'm not, but at the same time I've chosen to take what works for me, and substitute what doesn't with my own approach- I'm still not comfortable leaving Sophie to cry, so I don't. I sit next to her and pat her back until she goes to sleep, though I do all the other steps, and they all work.

I still need to implement some of the other parts of the DBG, and after I do that I'm planning on taking a No-Cry/ Dr. Sears approach to gradually removing myself from the sleep equation by saying my verbal cues from beside the cot, then from the doorway, etc until she's happy enough without me there.