Progress

Michael did not seem to be in any pain at all today and went to sleep tonight without painkillers. We have been having some trouble settling him at night because his body clock is telling him to go to sleep for the night at about 3am and wake for the day at 1pm. I have been trying to shift the routine to earlier in the day but my efforts have been hampered by the teething.

I had a crisis of confidence tonight that I shouldn't be nursing him to sleep. Most of the books that I have regard nursing to sleep as a big mistake that will lead to a child who is overly dependent on the breast and cannot self-settle. I have nursed Michael to sleep since he was born. I decided to search on the internet for methods to teach him to self-settle only to find the two online resources that I trust above others (Dr. Sears and kellymom) affirm that nursing to sleep is not only perfectly natural but also preferable to many other methods (albeit tiring for the parents). The suggestion is that self-settling is a developmental milestone that will come in time. Well I wish I had read this before then I wouldn't have felt so guilty the whole time!