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My Dr. gave us similar advice and it worked well for us. She started STTN as soon as we left her alone in the evenings. She isn't much of a crier... I wouldn't be comfortable with CIO before 4 months.

At 5.5 weeks old, I would follow little of that advice except to let her fuss a little. And that is only because I quickly learned that I would accidentally wake her up if she was fussing so I started waiting to make sure she was actually upset before intervening. I don't rush to her at her first noise, I wait a few seconds to see what the deal is. Sometimes she's just making a noise.

Well I think around week 6 we started putting E to sleep in her bassinet and then we would come watch tv with the video monitor

Trust your instincts. The rest of the advice, I started implementing around 3 months old. We couldn't get on an earlier sleep schedule until around 3 months, too. We only recently got to an 8pm bedtime!

Throughout your whole post, I was totally agreeing with you on every single point and not the Health Service. I would not let my baby cry until much later (like 3 or 4 months?) and he nursed basically every 90min with an occasional 2-3 hour sleep stretch, so I just let him sleep whenever he would! It all boils down to what you are comfortable with. I think 5.5 weeks is still incredibly young and I felt like I wanted to be close to my baby at all times at that age. Go with your maternal instincts, if you feel like your baby needs you, listen to you, and not someone who doesn't know your baby.

I agree though that the advice would be better suited around 3-4 months.

Trust your instincts! I honestly wouldn't follow any of that advice , especially at 5.5 weeks. We did everything you are currently doing and LO's sleep evened itself out and she's down earlier now and STTN for months. We didn't leave her alone to sleep until 6 mos. As far as picking her up too much? No such thing IMO. You have to do what feels right for you and what works for your baby.

First off, take my advice as just what worked for us. You do what's right for YOU, and if something makes you uncomfortable, don't do it. That being said:

- Wake her up during the day if she's been sleeping more than two hours? -- Nah. I wish I could get LO to sleep more than 2 hours. However, if she is having issues mixing up night and day, that might be something to work on. You might want to start differentiating...like with more noise/light/playtime during the day and quiet/dark/soothing at night.

- Leave her alone in our room between 7pm and 10.30pm (ish)?- I have no problem with this. We do this every night, and have for a couple weeks. She goes to before us, and I didn't think it was necessary to sit there watching her sleep. That's what monitors are for! In fact, I'm in my office doing homework (sorta) while LO naps in her room. No biggie

- Let her cry alone - only comfort her if she is really screaming? - I've let LO fuss a bit from day one. I always go to her if she's actually crying, but if she's just grunting/making fussy noises, I let her be. It's usually when she's trying to sleep, and it doesn't bother her or me.

I also started her on a bedtime 'routine' at about 6 weeks. It actually really helped her, but every baby is different.

Don't stress!!! Do what makes you and baby healthy and happy.

@Cherrybee: if she's sleeping longer during the day than at night, I would wake her during the day after 2 hours. I do that with my 7 week old....it doesn't help *that* much with making night time s,eep longer, but it's helped a bit. She used to sleep longer during the day also, and now at night, she has 1 longer stretch of sleep (usually 9 pm to 1:30 am), then goes back to waking up every 2 1/2-3 hours after that stretch. But part of the reason I did that is because I can't sleep during the day, so her short night sleep times were making me a zombie.

The monitor thing is crap.. We put our LO down at 9 and put the video monitor on her while we watch tv or whatever in the living room. It's nice to see her and hear her. If she's stirring but not crying, we just watch the monitor until she stops. If we didnt have the video, we'd go in the room to check in her and that would disturb her. We definitely don't stare at it all night!

We don't let our LO escalate into a full cry..but we do make sure she's actually awake and fussing as opposed to fussing in her sleep before we pick her up. Because sometimes she'll fuss for a couple of minutes and fall back asleep. But we also do that at night when we are all in the same room. Kind of a wait and see approach, but I bet you do that already!

The holding too much thing.....I hold my LO as much as possible, BUT I have to out her down several times a day while I pump since I'm an exclusive pumper, and she's always fussy when. Have to do that. I also out her down while I shower, make lunch, eat lunch, etc. so I'm actually not holding her a large part of the day. Basically. I don't neglect myself to hold her, and yes, that means we've had a shower or a car ride occasionally where there was some screaming from her before I picked her up.

So I guess....maybe meeting somewhere in the middle with the nurses advice could be good?

I only wake her if she's been napping more than 3 hours and it's getting close to bedtime (I normally put her down around 9). During the morning/afternoon I let her nap as long as she wants (though she normally doesn't nap longer than 2-2.5 hours at a time anyways).

I do agree with putting her in your room when you put her to sleep. By letting her sleep downstairs with you for the first chunk of her night sleep, this may be contributing to her confusion of nights/days (because she's still hearing you and your DH talk, the lights are on, etc.). I swaddle DD, turn white noise on, feed her, then put her down (all of this is done in our room with minimal light). DH and I then hang out for about an hour before going to bed, and check on her through the video monitor (I think the video monitor advice she gave you is BS).

I also don't agree with the not holding her advice.

I do let M fuss if her eyes are closed, but if they're open and she's screaming I pick her up. I say go with your gut on this one. I do think it's too early to sleep train at this point.

@Cherrybee: well, I'm not really into attachment parenting for the most part so I agree with the advisor on the trying to fix night/day sleep. I put LO on a three hour schedule during the day since she got home from the hospital.

The monitor thing is silly. We have video and we don't sit there staring at it...anymore

We do try to let LO fuss to make sure she's really hungry or needs a diaper change before we pick her up. Sometimes she's just making noises in her sleep.

Do what feels right for YOU!

So based on my two kids I would probably: wake her up during the day but probably every 3 hours, not every 2. We did this with my second and it really helped him sleep better at night because he was getting more calories during the day. I would start a bedtime routine as well but you can do this later in the night like at 10 pm or whenever works for you. But just a bath and change into pajamas to signal that night is different than day helps them out. The absolute best advice I got from my pediatrician (who is totally attachment parenting everything) is that a baby's fussy time means that they should be sleeping then. So I would focus lots of energy on getting her to fall asleep before it starts. It was seriously a revelation for me personally and even though not easy I did basically anything to get them to sleep then (carrying, walking, anything that works for you) and lo and behold the witching hour basically disappeared. The one thing I would definitely NOT do is let her cry/fuss alone. I believe that babies cry for a reason. The way all this worked for us was we get them to sleep downstairs in the evening, then "bedtime routine" before WE went to bed, then all go back to sleep upstairs together. Hope that helps, but feel free to take as much or as little from this. Like others have said it's all about what works for you.

I just don't appreciate it when anything is presented as sort of the "only" right way to do something. Especially coming from a medical professional, it could hamper a family's ability to find the path that will work best for them if they thing there is one particular way they should be doing things. I agree with everyone so far who has said that you should work on figuring out what works for your daughter and your family as a whole. The only additional advice I would give is to remember to look at the big picture, too. I have a tendency to just look at what my kids want and need, and forget entirely about myself and my husband. It seems to work best when I can manage to think about everyone. But if something just doesn't feel right to you, assuming your husband is largely on board, I would say just don't do it. Sounds like you are already a long way towards knowing your personal parenting "self."

You're the mama! Do what works for you. I don't know... Maybe my view is skewed because I am pretty hardcore about attachment parenting, but I strongly disagree with the health advisor. I say trust your gut. You are the perfect mother for E, so going against what you feel may be counterproductive.

@Cherrybee: like most people in the UK- Let the HV fill in the red book then ignore, ignore, ignore.

Which is what I'm sure were thinking when she was saying all this. It certainly doesn't look like you'd seriously consider the advice-which is fine, your the Mum.

It's not your style, so just smile and nod at the next visit.

Leaving alone doesn't seem to really make any sense to me. 5.5wks is too young for CIO due to brain development.

Trust your gut. For us, my son going to sleep at 7 didn't make any sense. My husband works 2nd shift and waking up for the day at 7am would be super stinky. My littlest went to bed around 10pm and woke up at 9am. It worked through infancy. Now at 15 months he goes to bed around 8:30 and wakes up for the day 8:30 as well. I much rather get the later sleep myself.