Sleep pattern

[LesleyJames]

Our little boy is just 12 months old and used to go to bed about 6:30/7 every night and sleep 12 hours. Nothing has changed in his routine (bath, bottle, bed) but he has changed completely in the last few weeks. He will not sleep unless one of us stays with him and cries continuously when he is left in his cot on his own. He used to be a little angel and we just want some advice on what may be causing this and how we get him back to how he was. We have tried leaving him (even though we hate to hear him cry) but he just gets more and more distressed... HELP!

In the mind of a 1 year old, you are leaving the room and he'll never see you again. he's growing up and his feelings and thoughts change. His biggest fear at the moment is that he'll be left alone, when you put him to bed he doesn't understand that you are in the house because he can't see you. Controlled crying should help. Go in after a few minutes, stroke his head and tell him that you are there, then leave him. He will cry, go back and stroke his head, don't talk though, then go back and pop your head over the cot and smile. This may take a few nights.

Thank you for your message, we will certainly be trying this over the next week or so... We thought parenting was easy up till this point!!!!