Sleep - 2y.o.

[Alanna1]

My 2 year old only likes to go to sleep with her hand being held at night, and preferably stories being read too. Will she grow out of this? She goes down for a nap at nursery without this, every day. Are we just setting up bad habits for ever? Stories and tips please. I can break it if I have too I suppose, but its sweet, done wonders for her language... But beginning to grate. If you did this, when did it stop?

My DC was like this too... I gradually removed by letting go of hand but staying in room till they went to sleep, then I started letting go, staying in room for tiny while then going into my room while still awake. Now I can go downstairs - I say I'll be back if DC keeps really quiet for 5 mins... Most times I hear snoring on monitor before I go back up. Good luck x

My 2 yr old DD likes us to do this too - we did successfully break the habit using MrsOB's tactic but then we moved and to help her with all the change, started holding her hand again! Waiting for things to quieten down with us before starting the gradual withdrawal again

One thing to be careful of is that if anyone else puts her to bed sometimes, that they know to not hold her hand. My DH is a softy and so will hold her hand if she asks winningly enough, which then undoes all your hard work! Sounds v obvious, but happened to us and is v frustrating and ultimately, not fair on her.

Good luck!

We were feeding to sleep this time last year so have come a long way! We moved the hand slowly away too, but still read stories to sleep - DD is 2.2. I like the time together and it's great for social/language skills.