She slept through!!!

week 6, day 3 (i really don't know at what point I'll switch to just keeping track of the months rather than each week and day)

Last night was the first night Tabitha managed to sleep through the night!!!

From the beginning she's slept for 3 hour stretches each night, waking for feeding and changing, but settling down quite quickly afterwards. She also far prefers to be awake in the evening, but will sleep through the morning (something that works well for me, I hate early mornings, but am alert late at night). So once we got used to making sure our heads hit the pillow as soon as she fell asleep we both got a reasonable amount of sleep.

But recently it's started getting even better, over the last couple of weeks the length of the stretches she sleeps at night have extended to 4 then 5 hours...

and then last night she slept from 11:30 pm (she was a bit of a monkey trying to settle initially) till 6:00 am! and then she had another feed and a change and slept again till 9:30! that's lots of sleep for me! She got a big cuddle and a congratulations from us both!!! hopefully we can keep it up!

So far here are my sanity saving baby tips:

1. The occasional bottle of formula milk really won't hurt. If you need to occasionally give baby a bottle of formula, because baby is being particularly hungry and you're getting exhausted, or you want a meal out at a restaurant without breast feeding (I shouldn't get embarrassed, but I do), or you haven't managed to express enough milk and your partner needs to care for baby for a couple of hours...just go for it, and stop feeling guilty, if it helps you continue breast feeding as a whole...do it.
2. dummy's are horrible, they can distort babies mouths and interfere with speech, they can effect how their teeth grow...but...but...if they help baby settle at night so you can sleep, or for long enough for you to have an uninterrupted meal...use them. We only use the pacifier at night to help her drop off, and at some point soon-ish we'll just go cold turkey with her and the dummy so the effect should be negligible. 
3. Some foods and drinks will give baby wind, or an uncomfortable tummy, so try not to have too many of them: fizzy drinks, acidic fruit juice (like orange or pineapple juice, I had a can of fizzy mango juice once, we then had a very very unhappy night!) too many white onions (be careful with Chinese take-out, sooo many onions) grapes, things that are very spicy and caffeine are all to be taken in moderation. Though try a little bit, see how it effects baby. If you have a bad time, wait a little bit then try it again. After all, it could have just been baby being in a grumpy mood.
4. Check babies temperature. Nothing makes Tabitha so grumpy as being too hot, even if her hands and feet feel cold, if her tummy is hot that means she's too hot. strip off some layers and see if that helps.
5. Have a mental checklist of things baby might want and then if she's crying, work your way through them. Does she need changing? is she hungry? does she have wind? is she too hot/cold? is the sun in her eyes? does she just need a cuddle?...if all of those fail, let her cry to herself for a little while and see if baby has just got herself in a fuss or over tired.
6. Try to keep your sense of humor: 3 am when baby has just pooped and peed and puked all over themselves, the changing mat, the baby grow and the new nappy you were trying to put on... is the time to try to see the funny side of the situation (generally the very satisfied look on babies face), laughing will make you feel a hell of a lot better than bursting into tears.
7. Remember to eat and drink. A couple of times I've started feeling cranky and tearful for no good reason. Then had a sandwich and a cup of tea and suddenly felt much better. Breast feeding takes a lot of energy, low blood sugar makes you feel awful, keep your energy up. (I've been drinking lots of chocolate milk, its lots of calcium, and a sugar boost and its easier to drink with one hand than eat one handed)
8. and finally, try to get out of the house, even just for a quick walk to the shops. it will make you and baby feel better than staying cramped in the house.