The inverted commas are on account of my failure to leave my baby crying for more than a nanosecond. I admire parents who can fight through a week of cries in order to have a baby who can soothe herself back to sleep at the end of it, I really do, but my pansy heart can’t hack it.

So, I’ve been sort-of sleep training Mary. Instead of feeding her to sleep in the living-room with lamps on etc., I take her into the bedroom, keep the lights off, put her in her sleeping-bag, and feed her to sleep on the bed. Once she’s asleep, I slip her into her cot and tiptoe away. She still has her sleep association between boob and dreamy time, but she at least has a vague idea of where she is if she wakes up. The poor little thing was falling asleep in one place and waking up in another. No wonder she was discombobulated!

The penguin of the title is a wonderful mug from Paperchase that has a lid in the form of a penguin head (his body forms the mug), which keeps drinks real toasty. If I make myself a cup of tea and put the lid on, I can have a restorative hot drink waiting for me after my nightly getting-bubs-to-sleep routine. Magic.

The owl is Ollie the Owl, a marvellous sleep aid in the shape of a big fluffy owl toy made by The Gro Company. His tummy lights up, his wings contain buttons that play a lullaby, white noise, heartbeats and rainfall, he is activated by your baby’s cry, and he even pours tired parents a nice cold gin and tonic from his beak.

That last function is imaginary but he’s still an excellent comrade in the quest to get baby the F to sleep!