Got any practical ideas or methods to help get babies and toddlers to sleep? We are all different and as the CC thread proved, some methods are more emotive than others. It could be a good idea if someone who uses controlled crying actually explains the method and their experiences.
Our fail safe method, nothing that exciting or new, is reading to our daughter. She generally will fall asleep after a story or 10, but I never try and get her to bed unless she is actually tired. She also really likes a story cd of Winnie the Pooh or the House at Pooh Corner. The Alan Bennet version which is the BBC radio Collection. Its also nice and long so she can listen for ages if she wants. There was a version recently that was given away with a paper which she doesn't like as much as the piglet voice is rather screechy and tends to jog her out of a dose with a bit of a start if she is dropping off.
When she was very little we used to play calming classical music in the evenings as it helped everyone relax. It wasn't anything specific, just what ever we wanted to listen to. I used to use baby massage as well as this helped to relieve the wind that was the main thing that kept her awake-still do sometimes.
Of course we are not always perfect and we have our good and bad days like anyone.