Get Your Two Year Old to Stop Crying and Go to Sleep Alone

There are a million books on this subject, and there is no easy way to get your child to sleep though the night unless they are ready. One thing you must never do is to get frustrated in front of your child. If they are upset, they will never go to sleep. Keep in mind our child did not sleep completely through the night until he was over a year old. Also, if your baby is breast-feeding, or still taking a bottle at night, this probably will not work

Steps

1. Put your kid on a schedule. ie. dinner, play, bath, books, bed-time. Try to do things consistently and at the same time every night when possible.
2. Announce it is time to go to bed and to give kisses (unless they are too young to know what you are talking about, in which case, good luck.) Take them to their bedroom.
3. Turn out the lights but DO leave some kind of night light on, then rock, or sing, or do whatever you do before putting him/her in bed.
4. Put them in Bed.
5. Soothe them a little by rubbing tummy or back or whatever. Soothe, but don't stimulate. Make it as boring as you can.
6. Did they fall asleep? Didn't think so.
7. Try to sneak out of the room.
8. If they cry for you, go right back to them, don't let them cry.
9. Repeat steps 5 through 8 until they fall asleep.

Tips

1. This is not something that happens overnight. Sometimes you will get to the door, close it, and they will call for you. It is important to always go back and soothe them some more and don't let them cry.
2. Some people will tell you to let them cry it out and this may or may not have quicker resulults, but If you don't want to submit your child to this heartbreak, you are left with the hard way. As were we.
3. When you go back to soothe, try to do it while they are in the bed without taking them out of the crib. Only take them out if they are extremely upset.
4. Try not to get angry at your child. It is perfectly normal for them to not sleep through the night. Every child is different.