Tash, I know how you feel with thinking Tobi was going to be clingy etc for ever - in our world a couple of days can feel like for ever! - I often feel like Monkey is going to be a nightmare sleeper for ever, then we have a couple of good days and I forget... then it gets bad again.... I think its like the whole pregnancy/labour thing - we are programmed to forget the bad stuff, otherwise who'd do it again!!!

I'm afraid I'm in the "skinny" group too - except my weight is abnormally low at the mo due to BF - so I have actually had some friends "worried" about me!! And I am not particularly looking forward to when I stop BF and go back to my "normal" and not-so-skinny weight - I'll be whinging about diets soon enough I'm sure!

So, tonight may not be the best night to sing the praises of the sleep consultant, as we are having a total shocker - DH has taken Monkey for a drive, as all else has failed!!! Hence, why I have some time to jump on here!

We have had the biggest trouble with day sleeps, although night sleeping is still a prob, just not as distressing as day, as there is usually less screaming..... to give a quick picture, Monkey got to a point where she would scream hysterically even in my arms and the only thing that worked was driving. Michelle (sleep chick) thinks it is a combo of a few things incl. just fighting sleep, plus developmental stage, plus wanting to be independent but unable to put herself to sleep yet, plus teething (possibly...) etc. etc. etc.....

But here are the things that I felt have helped somewhat:

Some little routine changes that involved getting the room ready for sleep, doing our little ritual (books etc..) out in the living room then going into her room - previously I was doing all the wind-down time, books etc in her room then darkening it.

We also changed the order of the evening routine to help get her down.... (all you intelligent mothers probably already do this!) so now once dinner commences theres no more active play time, it's just dinner, bath, books, BF then settle. (we also weren't bathing every day, but have now started. Also this is now necessary due to crawling etc...)

I have also added music into the room for settling - to be honest I'm not sure how much difference it is making now that we are a couple of weeks in; at first I thought it was good.... perhaps I could switch to white noise... dunno....

We have given her a "blankie", which was something we'd tried prev without success - Michelle recommends using a muslin square edged with satin ribbon - she says the satin is "unique" in the bed (ie. its not cotton like the sheets), plus the babies are attracted to its feel. Monkey had a "taggie" when she was younger and we've tried little cuddly toys etc... but they always seem to provide too much stimulation and serve only to make her play rather than sleep. Again, jury is out as to how much this is helping - it seems to have its moments, but isn't a magic wand.

The other thing we are doing is trying for more consistency, something I'm not particularly good at! And because both day sleeps were equally stressful, we are only "working" on 1 of them at the moment - so for the morning sleep we go out every day and she sleeps in the car or pram. Then I am home to "work on" the afternoon sleep.

When things still aren't happening I used to have no plan or know what to do... so we worked out a system of having "quiet time" if she won't sleep. I have set up our guest bed so we can both go in there and chill out if she screams in her room and won't settle. Often within 20 min of this she will fall asleep on the bed and I can transfer her. Not ideal, but at least I have something to try if the cot or being held by me aren't working. Again, not a magic wand and I think as the days go by she is learning the "new" methods and is starting to protest to these too!

I think that's mainly it - some of it may not make sense because I haven't described what was happening before etc.... and I am pretty tired.....

Michelle said that if we can get days better, then night will be better too..... I do believe this, but it seems a long way away!!

And of course, we now have to throw day care into the mix!!! (starting on 8th Jan). I think I was stressing about the countdown to day care and what would happen if she couldn't put herself to sleep, and my psychologist (who is an infant/mother attachment expert) thinks perhaps my stressing about the future may have started her distress for these sleeps in the 1st place, but now I'm trying not to think that far ahead - the reality is she won't be able to put herself to sleep by then, so they'll just have to deal with it! I have found a day care that have said they'll do whatever is necessary include rocking her in their arms if they need.... little do they know it may not even be this simple!!!

Whoa... my longest post by far... hope I haven't bored you all..... hopefully if you are bored you are adept at skim reading!!!

Goodnight all.