Toddler won't sleep if I'm not in the room

[januaryblues2022]

My son will be 3 next month. When myself or DH put him to bed, whoever it is has to stay in the room with him until he falls asleep. If we try to leave the room sooner he gets upset and bursts into tears, at which point we go back in and comfort him.

I'm growing tired of this routine and am missing my evenings, especially as he can take up to an hour to drop off. Does anyone have any advice on how I can break this habit without making it too upsetting for him? Or should I just stick it out in the hope that he will eventually grow out of it?

The disappearing chair technique worked a treat for my child at 2.5.

We had the same issue with DD when she was 2. We decided to start a new sleep routine with her when we transitioned her out of her cot. We sat down together and drew out our evening routine. Basically, I drew out each step of our routine on a big piece of paper and we talked about each step. The last step was me leaving the room before DD falls asleep. We went over and over the routine and even brought the drawing with us for bedtime every night so that we could point to the next step in the routine as we were going through it. DD did get very upset when I left the room for the first couple of nights but after that she was fine and it was a game changer. We made sure we put a baby gate on the outside of her door so she couldn’t run out when I left. I would go back and comfort when she was upset after a couple of mins but kept it very brief and boring by saying “time to go to sleep’ and putting her back into bed each time. Consistency is important. Good luck with whatever you choose to do!

Leave the door open. Reassure dc you are just pottering about in the bathroom /bedroom /in the bath.. Keep popping a head in. Lengthen the gaps between pop ins.. Remember you are the grown up. Dc really don't need as many props as we can end up providing! Remind dc they grow when they sleep! Ds was fascinated by this fact!

My DD wants/needs us sat with her to fall asleep, she's nearly 3. However I don't mind because she only takes about 10 mins. If it's tricky to work on leaving him to sleep alone could you instead work on why it takes so long, is he still napping? Napping late? Overtired etc? DD doesn't nap now and needs a really early bed time to fall asleep easily.

Still napping? An hour is a long time to fall asleep.

I'm in the same boat as you my 3 year old will only got to sleep if I am there (mum) I've tried everything and nothing seems to work so I just go with the flow and think to myself it ain't going to last for every (well I hope not)