Hi there,

My DD slept in a cot and with us for the first 5 months. I had had enough of it by 5 months as I wanted to be able to turn the light on and read, chat to hubby etc, without waking up the cherub. Hubby went away for two weeks and was not keen on bub going into her own room, I was! I put her in there for her day sleep. I breastfed her as usual in our room, then popped her in her cot in her own room. It took lots of screaming and crying, but after 4 days, she would settle in her own room during the day! I was a wreck and sobbed my heart out, but after a few cot modifcations it worked ( little toad would poke her legs through the bars so she was stuck!!!) I made a cover out of sheets that went over the side sand under the mattress and laced together under the bed so she couldn't get stuck! Once I could get her to have a day sleep in her cot, I then moved onto night sleeps in there ( I must mention that she was a baby that NEVER slept during the day and only every 2 hours at night with an hour or so in between- hence the sleeping with us!) It took a full two weeks but I must say, once it happened, she slept better and so did I ..... It was heaven reclaiming my bedroom! It is definitley worth the tears and stress and battle of wills! I couldnt stand the cry it out completly technique. I had music playing and every 15 minutes would go in and soothe her, pat her on the back and tell her I loved her. I would then go. She still loves the classical music and still loves being pat on the back at nightime 3 years later. It has become part of the nightime routine. Sometimes it is a case of feeling cruel to be kind. It is so worrth the hard yards to get them into a routine in their own bedroom. Best of luck!PS: I hope you are not allowing them to do manipulation of your developing chillds spine and neck! It can cause more problems than it cures

Trust your instincts - they are usually right. After all, you know your daughter better than anyone else (and you've been together for 16 months now...).

You have all my sympathy. I too have a strong willed (aka high needs) child - actually I think I have two but one more than the other making the second one seem so easy til I think about it! My only real advice is to recommend a book which helped me no end with my DD1 - the No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley. Sounds like it might help you, especially as cry-it-out hasnt worked (it made things worse with my DD1 as I know it did with some other mums/babies on Minti). She has loads of ideas, and you can pick & mix what your instinct tells you might work best with your baby.

Good luck!