Can a 2.5 yo fall asleep alone?

[annmartina]

It takes dh or myself at least an hour laying down with our 2.5 dd before she falls asleep. (On the days she doesn't nap, which is about a third of the time, it's a bit less.)

We've coslept from day 1 and are still very happy with the arrangement, but both of us would really like to shorten the time it takes for her to fall asleep. Dd is pretty easy to negotiate with and understands a lot, so I'm thinking about asking her to lay down, and checking back in every few minutes as she falls asleep.

Has anyone gotten their toddler to fall asleep without laying down next to them, or is that unrealistic at this age?

[Maluhia]

That was the age where we'd read a book, leave the light on and tell her it was her own quiet time and that we'd be back when we'd finished our "jobs" or "projects" that were grown-ups only around the house. It worked 50 percent of the time at that age and is up to 95% now that we are about to turn 5 here.

What we did: left lights ON, let her have some toys (dolls) in bed and if she choose to play with them, etc. it was NO BIG DEAL for us, as long as she played quietly in her bed. She always fell asleep within an hour, now it can go later but she's learned how to spend time winding down while reading a book or playing softly and sets her own physical rythm about when to set things aside and cuddle into the bed for sleep.

[Llyra]

All of mine did, at that age, but it was a goal we worked at for a long time.

[scbegonias]

DS does, DD never did until she was 5 and the kids started sharing a room.

Both kids go to sleep in their room, and come to our room during the night, usually close to when we go to bed.

[geekgolightly]

DS was 5 before we got him to use a nightlight and read books by the nightlight and play with stuffed animals by himself to go to sleep. He wasn't ready before that. We still cosleep. He just goes to bed before us. We read a few books or a couple chapters in a chapter book and then tuck him in.

I think each kiddo has different needs.

[etsdtm99]

My DD (will be 4 in march) started falling asleep on her own about .. 3 months before she turned 3 .. before that we would lay with her for 45min-1 hour, nurse, then sing (because i was trying to break the nursing to sleep habit because she would just stay latched for ever or would wake up when i tried to unlatch starting around 2.25 yrs) .. i had tried before that to leave, but she would cry and totally freak out .. at 2.75 yrs old she started asking me to leave and we ended up making a routine where we read one book, sang one song, and then we left and she fell asleep on her own, she would have whatever doll/animal she wanted in her bed with her and a couple months later we added a bed-tent which she really likes even now and i plan to get one for DS as soon as he seems mature enough to not just jump around in it (and when he is in his room, right now he is 19 months and still with us).. now she also has a music box and she tries to fall asleep before it stops playing, if she doesn't - no big deal.. she goes to sleep on her own 99.5% of the time without us ever going back in the room .. sometimes she asks us to stay with her or says she needs a grown up to sleep with and we tell her that we have grown up work to do and will come back in a while to check on her and she is always asleep when we come back.

[mamadelbosque]

DS1 does. He's been going to sleep more-or-less by himself since shortly after he turned 2 when he got his own 'big boy' (aka twin) bed in his own room for the first time. We read books for a little while, then turn off the lights (but turn on his lava lamp & turtle thing), say goodnight and leave. Probably 90% of the time he goes right to sleep no problems. Occasioanlly he'll fall asleep while we're reading too, which is super nice.

Oh, and if you try to lay there with him, it takes about 2-3x as long for him to goto sleep - cause' he's yanking on hair, kicking, squirming, etc.

[rzberrymom]

My DD was 3 1/2 before she was able to fall asleep easily without one of us there. Before that, one thing I used to do was listen to audio books while lying in bed with her.

From when she was around the age of your DD, we were pretty clear with her that we would lie with her as long as she needed, so long as she didn't play or goof around. If she started to play or talk, I let her know that she could stay up as long as she wanted and that I'd be right outside the door and would wait for her to be ready to sleep. I never threatened to leave her there--just made it sound really matter-of-fact and cheerful. And then I left my book outside the door and read until she was ready to settle down. After a few tries, she would finally be ready to sleep. This REALLY cut down on the amount of time I had to lie there.