18M won’t settle himself at Night

[LOR89]

Hey 😄 I have a beautiful 18month old son who unfortunately will not settle himself to sleep at night, some nights he falls asleep drinking his milk in his swing seat (he has seriously outgrown this seat) or the buggy, or if all else fails then a drive in the car. It’s getting worse trying to get him to sleep. He will not settle in cot by himself we have tried everything. He works himself into an awful state and tries to climb out etc. we can’t leave him like that. Once he does go to sleep he generally stays asleep all night, he might end up in the bed 2 or 3 nights of the week. He naps during the day for a Little one in morning for 30 mins and the same again after lunch…. I don’t know what to do… first time mom…. Is this normal? 😂😂🥰🥰🥰🥰

Has he ever settled or is this new? One of my DDs was a really good sleeper but had awful regression at 18mths, not just struggling to get off but waking all through the night.
2nd DD started fighting going to sleep but stayed asleep once she settled.
I do think it's a normal stage talking to other mums at the time. They both grew out of it, but I found moving to a toddler bed helped for some reason, not until after we'd struggled for 6 months mind 🙄