My 2.1 year old dd has just gone into her own bedroom for the first time. When she was a baby we used to be able to put her to bed awake and she would go to sleep by herself but when she was about 9 months she started crying when we left the room and, unfortunately, since then we have always had to stay with her until she goes to sleep. This is fine on the days she takes only 30 minutes but normally it takes at least an hour and a half (sometimes up to 3 hours) and she messes about a lot - talking, sitting up etc.
What I really need is some advice on getting her to go to sleep on her own. It is especially important that we get this sorted out now because our next one is due in August and we really can't be dealing with this with a newborn as well.
How long do you think we should leave her to settle into her bedroom before we start sleep training? Will a week be enough for her to get used to it? Also, we're hoping a gentle method like gradually getting further and further away from her will work. The only thing I worry about with this is that when we actually get out of her bedroom we won't know if she's asleep and if we try to sneak away and hit a creaky floorboard (we have lots) it might disturb her.
I guess the last resort would be controlled crying. Now she's in a bed is it going to be more difficult than if she was confined to a cot? I'm sure she's going to get out of bed straight away and go to the gate. Sorry to go on - what do you think?