How do we leave DS alone to go to sleep?

[ILoveExcel]

DS is 2. He sleeps all night in his cot (most of the time) but we still have to stay in the room whilst he goes sleep. No cuddling or anything, just lying on the floor next to his cot. It's not the end of the world or anything, but I'd rather not spend 30-40 minutes lying on the floor. Any tips on how we can move towards just leaving him to go to sleep by himself, without streaming him out too much?

*stressing him out too much

I think 30-40 mins is a reasonable sacrifice for him feeling secure. He's only 2. It won't be forever.

It feels like this stage is going to last for ever. We just gradually sat further and further away from the bed closer to the door. Took ages.

It sounds crazy but we had the same issue with my youngest and the only thing that stopped it was putting her in a toddler bed at 18 months.

We had a few night mucking about but she started to settle much easier and quicker from then on, I think knowing that she could get to us if needed rather than feeling "stuck" might have helped but obviously she couldn't tell us so we'll never really know!

Before that we'd have to sit with her for ages until she fell asleep - I had to pretend to go to bed too at one point 🤨

Mine is about to turn 2, my DP does the same 30 - 60mins of lying on the floor until he falls asleep. In my opinion its a small price to pay for a full nights sleep!

DS was slightly older but we did a sort of ‘I’m just popping out’ routine where we would start with literally just out the door and back in, then gradually pop out for longer / more periods. He got used to it and knew we would come back, until he was falling asleep while we were out