Just want to share this to give others with bad sleepers hope...
Dd is 13m and until recently woke every 2 hours at night, would not go down easily, screamed when we left her alone, etc. Naps were hit and miss and usually taken in the car seat or sling.
I now have a baby who will sleep for usually 2 hrs in the morning in her cot (sometimes will even wake up and settle herself!) and best of all, at nap times and bedtime she goes down awake and plays/looks at books for 20mins in cot before falling asleep herself. We recently went away for a week and she stuck to the same pattern despite being in a travel cot and sharing a room with me! Now she is not perfect- still wakes 1 or 2 times a night and demands a bottle to go back to sleep, but I just can't believe the change.
What did I do to get her like this? Absolutely nothing....she just got there on her own. So I now feel quite justified in all the times I defended her and myself to smug mummys who thought it was me/breastfeeding/my routine when I said sleep was a developmental milestone.
Hope that provides a glimmer of hope to anyone still suffering and doesn't sound too smug, but I just couldn't be prouder of her