Please help me to get my 2 year old to go to sleep on her own.

[BergamotMouse]

DD just turned 2. We've been having difficulty with bedtime for about 4 or 5 months. Currently bedtime goes as follows:

5:45 dinner
6:20 bath
6:45 out of bath, into pjs etc and into bed. 3 stories
7:10 we stay with her whilst she falls asleep. If she gets out of bed or starts kicking the bed guard, we leave for a minute. It takes her 30 mins - an hour to finally go to sleep.

She is increasingly messing about, coming up with things she desperately needs with 'mummy get it' and I'm fed up at how my evenings are going.

I'm due another baby soon and would love to get her to happily go to sleep alone. Does anyone have a technique they used successfully to achieve this?

We were hoping our technique would develop into gradual retreat but it doesn't. She wakes once a night and wants us there.

I'm happy to try less 'gentle' approaches but also happy to hear that these didn't work for some.

I'm just feeling increasingly desperate to sort this before we have a newborn on the scene.

This is fairly normal - she’s still really little to go to sleep on her own. I do appreciate its hard work for you especially if you’re expecting another but they still have needs at that age - sorry not very helpful 😞 it will pass

I was fairly resigned to it but the messing about is getting worse and it's taking longer and longer. Things like 'mummy put my cup down' and other ridiculous requests. I feel if I don't crack down on it now I'll be in a much worse situation in a few months time.

There is a sleep regression at 2 years as well have you read about that? Your little ones sleep isn’t broken - it doesn’t need fixing, it’s just a normal albeit rough part of toddler life.

Drop her naptime. She'll be tired for bedtime then. My 2.4yo has half hour max otherwise he's messing about til 9/10pm.
Or more exercise and stimulation in the daytime.

No advice, but I just wanted to say you're not alone! I'd literally come to post the same thread as this when I saw yours!

My daughter is 2 years 4 months and has always been a terrible sleeper. Bedtime is the worse and takes 1.5 hours pretty much every night. If we leave it it makes it worse, she becomes so upset she's sick and then it takes twice as long for her to calm down and go to sleep.

The health visitor recommended rapid return, but this although sounding great hasn't worked. She comes running after us even if we leave for 30 seconds.

The return to bed 'super nanny' technique doesn't work either. I tried one night and I returned her 166 times. This was in 3 hours. In the end she was sobbing and saying she was 'sorry mummy' and it made me feel terrible.

Does anyone have any advice to support anxious children to go to sleep alone? I'm tempted to let her have technology at bedtime but this feels like a real cop out.

She's a lovely, intelligent, funny, happy little girl. If we could fix bedtime our lives would be so much better.

Thanks to anyone who can help xx