Methods for gently having 2yo fall asleep on their own?

[JorgieGirl]

I have coslept with DD since her birth and love it. She is on the edge of 2 years old now and with a new baby coming into the family in 3 months, I am hoping to learn a gentle way of having her fall asleep by herself.

Our usual sleep routine (for nap and night) is we read a book in bed, she nurses for 5 min. or so, til she's bored then pops off, says night night and rolls over cuddling her blankets til she falls asleep. I lie next to her til she's out, then leave the room. If it's night time, I eventually head up to bed and join her. She sleeps 7pm-7am, no problem and my coming and going doesn't bother her.

I'd like to be able to do our book/nurse, then be able to say night night and leave the room with her happy, to fall asleep by herself. I still plan on joining her to sleep at night and the new baby will also be joining us in the bed.

Does anyone have experience with gentle ways of attempting this, to see if she's ready for it? If it doesn't seem like something she's comfortable with I am fine with continuing our regular routine.

Advice?

[summerforever1977]

Maybe start really slow. Like you stay for a few minutes and then get up and go stand by the door to see if she gets upset. If she doesn't seem to care, try leaving the room. If she is bothered, reassure her that you are staying right there (at the door). Hopefully, you can do this for a week or two and then eventually just leave. I've never done this as I always lay with my son to go to sleep, but now that I've typed it out I just may try it too.

[karebear217]

I have just started trying this very thing with my 19 month old, and the thing that sometimes works (not always, but pretty consistently) is to softly tell him that I'm going to go talk to Daddy, and I'll be right back to check on him. Then I do come back after a minute or so, and he's usually looking for me. I tell him he's doing such a good job and I just need to talk to Daddy for a few more minutes and he needs to stay laying down. Then I leave and stay away for a few more minutes. When I go back, he's usually asleep. If my leaving the first time upsets him, I'll stay with him till he's asleep. But if he's ok with it, I'm outta there