Hi girls

Liz - LOL at your gardening. If you run out of things to do in your garden, you're welcome to come here - it's in desperate need of a workover! Tallon might not wean when you fall pg, there are plenty of Mums who keep bf through pg and the no of bfs he has in a day, I don't think he'll go off you that quickly. What does the ABA say?

Em - sorry love, completely missed responding to you on settling Abby. I cuddle Lucy to sleep still. She has a bf after her bath and dressing her (which we do every night and have done since she came home from hospital, kind of a routine). She's hanging out for the bf and is very stroppy until she's fed. After that, she gets a second wind for about 20 mins or so and DP plays with her on the floor. Then, at 7:30ish, I pick her up, give her a dummy and cuddle her. She knows straight away that's the sleeping cue and cuddles until she drops off. Then I put her in her cot. I do it for her naps during the day as well. She went through a horrendous time a few weeks ago for a while where she'd wake up (sometimes several times through the night) and need me to cuddle her, which often ended up with her in bed with us. That seems to have passed on the whole, but she still has the occasional night (usually if she's gone to bed early) where she wakes at 1am and thinks it's party time.

What do you do for nap time during the day?

What time are you trying to get her down? Maybe leaving her up to play a bit longer would wear her out a bit more? Or has she just eaten/had a bottle? Lucy is full of energy right after feeding, but wears out after a little bit.

The only other thing I'd suggest is cuddling her on the couch, rather than your bed, and waiting until she's well and truly asleep before transferring her to her cot. That way, you can watch TV (down low and with the lights off) and won't notice how long it's taking.

I know there are lots of techniques that involve leaving them in their own cot and various amounts of crying, but you sound a bit like me and not inclined to let her cry.

Like Liz says, I think this is just a stage and they grow out of it. I didn't know where my wonderful sleeper had gone for a while there and was desperate to know where I was going wrong!

Good luck, hope you're better rested today.