Bel,

With C I put him in his cot and turned his mobile on. When he cried, I'd go in, pick him up, soothe him, and as soon as he stopped, I'd put him back in his cot. I repeated this about 5 times and then he eventually figured out that crying wasn't going to get him out of bedtime, and he put himself to sleep. He now self settles during the day. It took a while though, of this consistent pick up/put down routine to settle him. About a week? Also I waited until crying, not just whinging.

Now he doesn't cry when he's put into his cot at all. At the moment he's in there playing and talking to himself, and when he's tired, he'll go to sleep. If he cries, I go in and check him, soothe him, then leave. I always worry that he's gotten himself stuck in the bars or something! And if he screams when I put him in his cot, I know something's wrong - like last week. Later that day, he developed a fever!