Your baby questions

Maternity nurse to the stars, Rachel Waddilove, comes to the rescue of mums struggling to balance feed times, naps and leaving baby with other carers

Clingy baby trouble
I was just wondering if you could offer some advice on a clingy baby. She seems to be uncomfortable being with my husband.

She's eight months old and ever since she was born has cried and screamed whenever she's been left with him. I haven't a clue as to why and we didn't have this problem with our first daughter. She's perfectly fine if I am at home but the minute I leave she goes totally nuts.

I have tried leaving her for five minutes, then 10 minutes and so on, but no matter how long I am out she screams until she falls asleep or until I come back. What would you recommend?

Also, she has never slept through the night. On occasion she only gets up once and that's great but most of the time she gets up anywhere between two and four times a night. I breastfeed and normally give her a quick feed and get her back to bed but it means I am awake for ages throughout the night and I'm totally shattered. What would you recommend to try and get her to sleep through?

Rachel Waddilove: I'm really sorry to hear about your problem with your little girl not wanting to be with her daddy. I would encourage your husband to do as much as he can with her when he is at home and while you are around, to make it seem just like 'normal' life for her.

Try not to make an issue of it in front of her. When you go out, leave quickly without her noticing, and perhaps do it little and often so she knows you are coming back again.

I wonder if she reacts when you leave her with other people too? She will, I'm sure, grow out of it in time. But you do need to let her have good quality time with daddy whenever you can.

As to her waking in the night, this is a habit. You are rewarding her with feeds every time she wakes and you need to wean her off this. I would suggest you try the controlled crying method that I talk about in my book. You must persevere, but I can assure you it will work, it may take a week to 10 days. You will be thrilled when she really does sleep all night. Make sure she is not sleeping too much in the day. Again, you can see sleep times in my book. I do hope this helps.