getting back on track -sleep problems with 2 year old

[LornaHenry]

Hi,
I hope someone can help me sort out sleep problems with my 2 year old.
He was sleeping through the night for months with no problem. I had to use walk in/walk out when he was a little over one year old but after that, he'd go to sleep on his own after his night time routine and being tucked in etc.
He's had problems on and off for a few months now with struggling to go to sleep on his own and night wakings. I'm pretty sure I know why. He's in a nursery 4 days per week and they have insisted in shortening his naps-along with the naps of all the other children. It's now down to one hour despite my protests. He's exhausted when he gets home and not his usual self at all. Things get back to normal on Fridays and the weekends when he's home. Things came to a head last week when I insisted that he had to be allowed a longer nap and the nursery has now agreed that he can sleep as long as he needs to from this week coming. Hooray!
I'm not sure this will entirely fix things though. After 4 days in a row at home, he's going down for some naps and some night times without a problem. On other nights he pushes his dad out of the room and insists that only I read him bedtime stories. When it's time to put him to bed he immediately starts saying in a semi crying voice "my mummy, my mummy" over and over. He continues even if I am in the room. I've tried walk in walk out a couple of times now but he's got so upset he's vomited. His dad has sung him to sleep-an old method we definitely don't want to get back into.
Any tips on how to get him back on track would be greatly appreciated.

[*Becky*]

Hi there,
Please could you post your routine. Good news about nursery letting him nap longer.
If he is getting that upset wiwo is not the best option. Have you tried 'sshing' by the door?
Is he teething at all? That does make lots of lo's more clingy.
Becky x

[LornaHenry]

Hi,
If he's at home he gets up at abut 7 and has a nap from about 1 to 3. He's then in bed by 8 all going well.
If he's in the nursery he's up at 7, has a nap from about 12.30 to 1.30 and again is in bed by 8.
We tried putting him to bed earlier on nursery days but it became impossible as he was too fractious.
The good news is that his mood is better this week as he's been having more sleep at the nursery-not a lot more-but an extra 15 to 30 minutes a day.
I've also made a bit of a breakthrough the past couple of days-I think-by using a method I've seen posted on here before-talking him through his day last thing before leaving the room. I've also taken to leaving the light on outside his room as I think he may be getting afraid of the dark. He's gone to sleep the last couple of nights by himself without a fuss. Last night he also slept through without waking but I've no idea if that's a fluke.
He may possibly be teething. He only has the very back teeth to come through. It's really hard to tell. I can't feel anything.
I have tried sushing at the door to varying success. It can take an hour-all the time he says "my mummy".
I'll see how it goes for the next few days. If you have any other tips or you think I can tweak his routine, let me know.
Thanks for your help.

[*Becky*]

good news
I think your routine looks good.
Toddlers do tend to go through these developmental stages - you seem to be handling it really well...keep me posted xx

[LornaHenry]

Thanks for the encouragement. We've had three night in a row now where he's gone to sleep on his own and not woken at night! I'm really pleased. He's sleeping with his bear now which he seems to like. Hopefully things should be OK now- until the next issue pops up!

[*Becky*]

great