Has anyone ever tried this trick?

[BarefootScientist]

There was a brief mention in "Playful Parenting" (great book by the way, just finished it) about how the author would try to get his daughter to sleep and she was having a hard time because she thought he was going to leave as soon as she was sleeping. So he would tell her he was going to get a drink of water or put his pjs on or something and be back in 5 minutes, and if she was still awake he would stay with her, and if she was sleeping he would just kiss her good night.

Anyway, I mentioned this to my DH and he tried it tonight with DS and it worked like a charm. He sleeps on a twin mattress next to our bed, and for a year and a half now DH has put him to bed, mostly using the hum-and-rub-back method. Oh, and please note that I am NOT talking about the CIO "come back and check every five minutes" method...DS was completely silent the entire time and was sleeping, at the end of 10 minutes.

So just wondering if anyone else has done this, and did it keep working, or did the kid catch on? BTW, DS is almost 2.5, they might need to be an older toddler for this to work...

[OGirlieMama]

I've had on-and-off success with this. Mostly on when they were younger, actually - more around the same age as your DS. Now, at nearly 4, they seem to have gotten more anxious rather than less, and I rarely am allowed to leave (and often if I am, they come out 2 minutes later). I don't think that has anything to do with the particular method - just personality and active imaginations.

[mom2emnbec]

this worked well for my first 2 and eventually it got to the point I could just leave after reading and snuggles and they put themselves to bed, usually we started somewhere going near 3. this assumes they are in their own bed

[alivia]

I've done this for a few years and still do with my 6 year old. It has worked well.