I'm going to try and teach 2yo dd to fall asleep on her own!

[motherofvikings]

Dd is almost 2yo and so far has been cuddled to sleep. She goes down within 5 mins of this for a nap but at bedtime it can take 40 minutes or more. She is so getting too big to fit comfortably with me in the chair.

So I've decided it's time to teach her to fall asleep on her own.

I have given her a pillow - because she is a big girl.
I have taken the chair out of her room - so it's no longer an option.
I've talked to her about what we will do at nap time and got ds (4yo) to big her up about sleeping too as she idolises him and she is desperate to do everything the big kids do! :)

So, the plan is to do usual nap/ bedtime routine and then instead of sitting in the chair for a cuddle we will have brief cuddle then I'm going to lie her down, say night night and go.

She will leap out of bed (I'm sure) so I'm going to try rapid return.

Does that sound ok?
I'm hoping it won't be too traumatic for either of us! :)

Have you seen that bedtime programme on C4? It's on tonight I think, a friend of mine said it's brilliant for tips!

PS And hurrah to being asleep!

yeah - i watched it last week and realised that if they could get the children on the program to sleep then dd and me would manage it too! :)

i'll be watching again tonight though!

I did wonder if it had inspired you! Good luck for tonight

Just started round 3. She wanted to lie down which was good. No screaming so far...

Quite a few "mummy!" commands being shouted and I can hear a fair bit of squirming.

I am sat on the landing with a book, my phone and hand cream. If it wasn't for dd it might almost be peaceful! :)

Just thought maybe she would also enjoy an audio book or music to help her settle? Did wonders with my DD! (But she was older - about 5 when we started that one.)

Well it took a grand total of.....

Zero returns and 15minutes for her to fall asleep!

I am SO proud of her and feeling very pleased with myself!

Teacher - my Dc's are both dancers - any music any time and they're up and boogy-ing! Lullabies seem to have the opposite effect on them! :)

Laughed out loud at the boogy-ing - must admit I am the same!! Ok maybe not.

And yippee!

She slept till 7 again! :)

She woke/ stirred noisily in the night twice but both times once she was back in bed she settled very fast! :)

Motherofvikings that's great - sounds like she's well on the way!

5 minutes into nap time today.

So far since I've put her down she has "mmmm"-ed a lot, sung to herself and is fidgeting a lot in the bed from what I can hear.

She isn't upset tho and is staying in bed so far...

Dd is a star!

10 minutes, no returns, one sleeping girl!

The real test will be if dh can put her to bed tonight when I'm out...

My DD at 2 used to chat to herself for ages! It was really funny the stuff she would say too, total stream of consciousness! Good luck to DH

Dh reckons she only took 20 mins to fall asleep an he didn't have to go back in so I'm calling it...

Dd is sleep trained! :)

Time to celebrate!

Hmmm maybe she isn't quite trained yet.

Dh was meant to be on nights with dd. I got up at her first stirring- duvet had been kicked off. Replaced it an instant settle. :)
Dh got up the second time but then wandered off to the loo. Dd was wide awake by the time he went through so there was a fair bit of crying. She did settle herself but dh sat next to her while she settled herself. I'm a bit miffed with DH as I'd said she needed you to go straight through but then she would settle super fast once duvet was back on.

She woke at 6.20 today - she had fallen out of bed a while ago as she felt a bit cold.

I feel like I've had v little sleep - as after dh got up with her i realised all her cryibg etc had made me really tense abd ut too me ages to rekax abd fall asleel again.

You can tell I'm tired from my typing!

Hmmm today's nap time has started off very noisily. Shrieking with glee, shouting nonsense, messing with her light.

But on the plus side she did lie down when I went in to say no to messing with the light.

Oh dear this is not going well. She is very lively - despite a busy morning and being very calm for stories. I've already been in 4 times...

She is shout/singing now.

Is this because DH wasn't consistent last night?

Phew she suddenly conked out. :-)

Ah just saw the smilie. Was going to say "past performance is no guide to future results" especially if (like us) you have a temperamental sleeper.