getting co sleeping toddler to fall asleep on her own

[Gambia]

We happily cosleep with our 21month old toddler, she sleeps well at night and it suits us. However, it is taking longer and longer for her to fall sleep at night. It usually takes about an hour (this includes reading a few books too and cuddling her til shes asleep). We do not want to do any form of controlled crying, but was wondering if anyone had been through anything similar and managed to get their toddler to go to sleep more quickly or by themselves while still co sleeping.

I haven't ever coslept (apart from when dd has been ill) but I wonder if you being there while she is trying to fall asleep is part of the problem? The temptation would be to get some more of your attention for a toddler.

I think you would probably need to keep the routine and then lights out and keep interaction and distractions to a minimum. What time does she go to bed? And does she nap much in the day?

No words of wisdom to offer I'm afraid, as currently going through similar with our 20-month-old co-sleeping DS. His problem has always been waking up frequently in the evening, when sleeps alone on a mattress on the floor in his own room. When we all go to sleep he's fine and wakes up around 5am for a bf and then sleep until 8.30am usually (most of the time from about 7am until he wakes up is sleeping on the boob though).

This taking aaaageees to go to sleep is an added bonus, we're now going through and some evenings he just won't fall asleep. I've noticed though that I have to be increasingly careful to avoid him getting overtired, as this will result in a 2-hour session of trying to get him to sleep !

Anyway, just wanted to say you're not alone and will lurke around for any tips.

Thank you both for your replies, its really nice to hear your suggestions and support!

Girliefriend - thank you for your suggestions. I think that might be part of the problem, I guess it's now trying to work out how we help her to get to go to sleep on her own. She tends to go to bed around 7:30/8 (we have tried earlier before but she doesn't usually seem tired til about 8). She usually sleeps for a couple of hours (sometimes more) in the afternoon from about 1 /1:30 ish, but again this is not easy and takes a similar amount of time.

Fazerina - its nice to know it's not just us, thank you for sharing! It's so tricky when it takes so long in the evening! Our dd is similar when she sleeps in her own room and is really easily disturbed, but sleeps well in our bed. Good point about getting overtired, I have noticed this can be a problem and will be keeping a closer eye on this just in case, thank you. Hope you find some good tips too!