Hi,

I was wondering if Australia is the only place in the world which has what I
term 'sleep schools', Mother/baby units, staffed by midwives or nurses often
attached to hospitals where babies are taught to sleep and mothers are
taught to make their babies sleep through controlled crying (or controlled
comforting as it is sometimes termed)  It's the flavour of the month around
here.  In fact I attended one with my first child, but 'failed' the course -
my child resisted the methods and never slept through the night.  It worries
me because I feel it sets up unachievable (in many cases) ideas on sleep,
and in the long-term leaves mothers feeling even more that the child not
sleeping well is their fault.  (If they just followed instructions
*properly* their babies would sleep)  Also, to sleep according to a routine
they also need to feed to a routine, even fairly young babies.  A friend of
mine recently attended.  She was told her 7mnth old absolutely did not need
to be fed during the night for 8 hrs, and was just 'putting it on' because
she had her mother 'all worked out'  This family are now looking to rent a
larger house because in the one they own, the baby has to sleep in the next
room with a sibling and this is not suitable as the baby should sleep alone,
and further away from the family so as not to disturb them while she learns
to self-settle.  This mother is an experienced mother of 4 who could teach
most of us a thing or two about mothering, but I hate hearing her talk about
how 'weak' she is as a mother and how the sleeping situation is all her own
fault becaue she allowed her children to 'lead her by the nose'.

Barb Glare IBLC
Australia

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