2.5 year old won't go to sleep!

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My son has always been a good sleeper, once he's off that's generally it for the night and he even likes a lie in. Great. Except to get him to sleep is an absolute PITA!

He won't go to sleep unless I'm there with him, waiting for him to drop off, which can take ages - an hour plus sometimes.

If I leave him while he's still awake, he'll just scream and scream. I've tried letting him cry it out but it goes on for so long and it's so intense I give in - I need my next door neighbours to like us lol

I've even tried bringing him back downstairs, but then he gets tired & sleepy, asks to go up to bed (with me) and then the whole thing starts again.

It's getting to be a real problem now as we're not getting any time in the evenings. By the time he's finally asleep I'm exhausted and ready for bed myself!

Any ideas to try?

Watching this with interest as it sounds exactly like my 2.2yr old DS. We have found the best thing is to just sit in his room and completely ignore his antics so it’s really boring for him. We have got time to fall asleep down to 45minutes so not great but now planning to do gradual retreat so we will slowly sit further away from his bed until we are by the door and hopefully eventually outside the door.

We have found he is much better on days when he hasn’t napped or has had a short nap however it’s a difficult balance because if he skips the nap for too many days in a row we get over tired meltdowns which are not pretty.

Is your DS still napping?

We have the same problem. DD is 2.1 and will only go to sleep if I lie on the bed beside her. On days when she hasn't napped - nursery days she is usually out in a few mins. On normal days it can take over an hour or tossing and turning and trying to talk to me.

If anyone else tries to put her down she cries and gets really upset shouting for mummy. DH tried tonight for an hour and a half. She cuddled him and let him rock her but still cried and screamed for me. Eventually I gave in and came up to the bedroom. She was asleep within 5 mins.

I'm 7 months pregnant so this can't continue. DH had been working away from home so we only started trying with DH putting her to bed yesterday so will persist and hoping to have it nailed within 2 weeks.

It would be easier if we dropped her naps but she seems to need them. Is really grumpy with no nap. Might try to limit the nap to one hour rather than the 1.5-2 hrs she usually has.

You need to make some gradual moves towards independant sleep. If you maintain the status quo nothing will change.

If you're lying down and waiting until asleep, start sitting in bed and waiting until asleep. Give that a week and start sitting on floor instead of the bed. Give that a week and start standing leaning against wall by bed. Then leaning against walk but facing away from bed. Then a step away from bed. Then by the door. Then outside the door.

FATE suggestion is good. We used that technique with DS1 and it worked along with a star chart and blatant bribery