Bed fail - first of many

So last night's attempt at getting the baby to sleep in the co sleeper was a bit of a failure, but I'm not convinced it had anything to do with the bed; it was already one of those relentless cluster feed/fussy nights. So I'll just keep trying it. I have to say the five minutes I got to spread out in the bed without worrying about him falling out/being smothered/being eaten by the dog was awesome.

So as I fed him for the bajillionth time last night I finished Le Conflit and bought the French parenting book Bringing Up Bebe and read about half of that. I was especially interested in - and puzzled by - the chapter about French babies "doing their nights" (aka sleeping through the night) by just a couple of months, apparently because the parents simply expect them to. She talks about The Pause - the French habit to not immediately rush to pick up a baby the minute they make a noise, and rather let them work it out themselves. So it's not Cry It Out exactly; more it's let the baby resolve their own sleep cycles. Which made me wonder if I'd already spoiled my son by picking him up all the time (well, unless I'm putting on mascara or eating a taco as noted). I mean, I do wonder, if it's ok to indulge a newborn's every whim, when does it become not ok? When do you have to "lay down the law", and when you do, how are the babies supposed to adjust to this?