Our loyalty has to be to ourselves. This can be very difficult for many of us because we feel we are being selfish in putting our own needs first. How can working towards our recovery be selfish? In the working-through process, especially at the beginning, we need all of our energies for ourselves.

The lack of understanding by those close to us can create extra stress. All of us are extremely sensitive and vulnerable to other people’s suggestions or ideas, even if it means doing the opposite to what we feel is right for us. Part of the recovery process means accepting that we don’t have to go along with what other people expect from us. We don’t have to do, or accept, anything we know is going to be detrimental to ourselves and/or our recovery. Like everyone else, we have the right to do what is right for us.

*90\94\8*

A baby seems to change every day; as she grows and learns, parents expect that she will learn to sleep when she is able. Some babies learn on their own. Some do not. The advantage of working on sleep problems with infants is that their habits are not as ingrained. Sometimes by making a small change a parent can bring about a real improvement. Things may improve on their own if you wait long enough, but you may not be able to wait. Or things could get worse and harder to change. If your infant is six months or older, now is a good time to begin.

Will feeding solid food early help my child sleep better? Research does not support this idea. Sleeping a long stretch at night has more to do w neurological than with digestive functioning. The current medical recommendation is to start solid food at four to six months of age. Your child’s doctor can help you determine the best time for your child according to his si birth weight, and health.

It probably will not hurt to try offering solids, but do not hope for instant success. Also, remember that over-feeding at bedtime will only lead to disrupted sleep. Try to avoid “stuffing” him right before bed.

There are ways that feeding can be used to affect sleep. Mealtime is one of the factors that helps to re-set the internal time clock. Making meals regular as possible during the day helps give rhythm to a child’s day and night. When working to change a skewed schedule, moving the mealtime helps establish a new beginning or ending to the day. Solid food at predictable, longer intervals during the day can help lengthen time between meals at day and night. Offering a solid food snack after the last nursing can help prevent falling asleep at the bottle or breast.

In summary, food will not necessarily “keep him full” through the night, it can be used to cue him for sleep.

*19\67\8*

As research has shown, St John’s Wort can be effective in the treatment of major depression. Yet, just as with anti-depressants, its use and value very likely extend far beyond the confines of that single clinical syndrome. As the stories in this chapter illustrate, St John’s Wort, though mild in its side-effect profile, has powerful and far-reaching beneficial effects which makes it the gentle giant of our herbal pharmacopeia. Its value in the treatment of less severe problems – the heartaches, stresses and ailments of everyday life – are chronicled in the chapter that follows. Although I have changed the names and some identifying details to maintain the privacy of those described, the essential elements of their stories are authentic.

For the benefit of sceptics, perhaps it is fitting that our first story should be that of a man who was successfully treated for his depression without his knowledge. Meet Sam, a depressed solicitor, Sylvia his concerned wife, and her close friend, Louise, a woman of great resourcefulness who happens to be a patient of mine.

*4\75\2*