My 1.5 year old will not sleep unless I am physically in the bed with her. She has never been a great sleeper, and things are only getting worse. I was able to get her to sleep by laying on the bed with her and then leaving once she had fallen asleep. It wasn't an ideal situation, but at least I could get her to sleep. A couple of weeks ago, I ended up having to go on a 2 night trip for work, and since then, she will not sleep unless I am in the bed with her and stay there. The second I try and get out, she's up, crying. She is sleeping in a double bed and so crying it out doesn't really work because a) she just jumps off the bed and stands at her door b) she cries so hard she often vomits c) if i do leave the room, she begins to scream, falls to the ground, banging her first and legs and I'm afraid that if I leave for too long, she may hurt herself. To make matters worse, if I am able to get myself out of the bed, she is up at 5am, in my room, checking to see if I am there, and then once again, won't sleep unless I come back to bed with her. She looks exhausted, and I feel terrible for her.
I have tried slowly distancing myself from her as she sleeps (trying to slowly get her used to the idea of sleeping without me), but have made it as far as the foot of the bed. The second I get any further, she does all or a combination of the aforementioned items. I don't know what to do. My husband watches her during the day, and he rocks her to sleep (on the rocking chair) and puts her down once she is asleep. He is able to leave the room. If both of us our home, she screams bloody murder if he is the one that tries to put her down. Help, I know these are all props that we have been using, but she's 1.5 years old and I don't know what to do now. Any and all advice is welcome....