My toddler has just turned two. He used to be an excellent sleeper and good at self-settling, but about three months ago he started crying for long periods (anything from 10-30 minutes) when I left his room, both at naptime and bedtime.
Because it wasn't nice to hear him crying, I decided to stay with him at sleep times from that point onwards, pretending to fall asleep myself, until he drifted off.
I'm now concerned that I've started a bad habit where he needs me to be with him in order to sleep. Did I do the wrong thing by starting this and how can I encourage him to settle on his own again?