What age did you stop staying in DC's room until they fell asleep?

[Cosypyjamaface]

As the title says, usually we stay with DD until she falls asleep. What age did you move to "night night" and just leave them to it?

DD1 was about 2.5 when I stopped staying with her to sleep. I just explained to her that it wouldn’t be happening anymore, and she was fine! Wish I’d bloody done it earlier, I was preparing for battle.
Never did it with DC’s 2 and 3. They’ve never cried themselves to sleep either

Nicely done OP! Enjoy your Friday night! 😊

Probably never leave them alone! But I hate sleeping alone so...?

Never really did with my first after they went into own room at 6 months. Still sitting with my second at 15 months! It really does depend on the child. My first loved going to bed, this one not so much!

8 years old 😳 7 months old 🤩

Mine are 4 and 6 and we're still at it.

I've not bothered trying to get out of it tbh. I can Mumsnet or have a think or a snooze if it's been a hectic day. It's nice in this quiet little room with the nightlight on and my two little fairies shuffling softly off to sleep either side of my chair.

Of course it's intermittently a PITA when I want to get ready to go out for dinner, or when 6yo suddenly decides she desperately needs to know what happens when we die/how evolution works/how exactly babies are made

Never, if you are there doing something to help them get to sleep it becomes a crutch. They need to figure out their own way to get to sleep, the earlier the easier it is.

Would just like to say all kids are different and they don’t have be unicorns who fall asleep very quickly or left to cry. A lot of them will just lie in bed happily until they fall asleep just like we as adults do. I wish someone had told me this with my first as I was obsessed with ‘getting him to sleep’ before I could relax. With my second I put her down and walked out from day one.
If you want to transition from being in the room you could try leaving the door open and pottering about upstairs so he knows you’re still near.

DS has just turned 2 and we’re just weaning him off it. He would scream blue murder when he was small. It’s nice for those parents who have easy children - it’s just luck though! (Or controlled crying I guess, which I wasn’t comfortable with).

Never! It's a bad habit to get into and you're setting yourself up for years of settling them instead of them learning to do it themselves. One of my mum friends is a sleep therapist and she spends most of her time teaching the parents how to unlearn the bad habits they've created.

Nice one OP.

As for me.. DS went into his cot in his own room at 6 weeks and slept through from 7pm-7am.

This is why I only did it the once.. Got lucky with sleep 😉

DS1 was about 4

I still have to feed DS2 to sleep and he is nearly 2, hopefully he won't need us for as long as DS1 will. I don't think he will. But he's not quite there yet.

Never. Just popped them in and said night night. Would go back in if needed but wouldn't stay with them.

Never as she always went to sleep no problem, staying asleep is another matter so no bragging here!

@literdan

I don't think I ever did that. I had a book that went through what to do week by week. On week 8 or something it said try to not get them to fall asleep on you and transfer them; instead get them drowsy and then put them in their cot. This way they'll learn to go to sleep by themselves when they feel tired.

I have never had ANY luck with this. DS2 did it a bit when he was newborn but then he would happily lie by himself even when he wasn't drowsy at all.

Once they could move though, no chance. They've both just stood up and woken completely up and then it's a pain in the arse to get them sleepy again.

Have never left them crying purposefully but the times it's happened by accident (e.g. forgot monitor, had robot hoover on, couldn't hear crying, oops) they haven't given up crying and lain down and gone to sleep they have just got really really upset.

Another one , never did it.

I never stayed in the room. Both dc went into their own room at 6 months but I never stayed with them until they went to sleep.

DS is 22 months and I sit with him until he falls asleep. Currently I have a cushion that I am moving further and further away from the cot. He’s been a screaming, tantruming mess at bedtime for the last few weeks (GP agrees that his asthma meds have contributed to a bit of a regression on that front) so this massive progress.

He was never the kind of baby you could just leave to fall asleep though. Fingers crossed number two might be a wee bit less demanding 😂

Is anyone has worked out how to make a baby ‘drowsy but awake’ I’d bloody love to know.

No, mine don't come with that setting either :o Do you think we can send them back to the shop?

Never.

IMO most sleep problems are caused by parents teaching their children not to sleep without them.

Still do , 3.5 and 18mo, works for us but we all still co sleep. We’ve gone through phases when it takes forever and is a PITA but mostly they’re asleep in 5-15 minutes so hardly burdensome.

@CarlottaValdez

I needed to because I didn’t want him to cry himself to sleep.

My kids never cried when I put them down, and they never cried themselves to sleep.

Not had any sleep problems either, even my ‘bad sleeper’ slept through by 14 months with an occasional late dream feed and my good sleeper slept through consistently by 5 months

Mines 6 and I still lay with him and I will with his baby sister too 😂😂 I have an elder one who grew out of it pretty quick so I’m holding onto these moments