23 month-old bedtime routine changing

[Sleepless in Singapore]

HELP!!!!

I am at a total loss now!!!  We have used PU/PD very successfully in the past even getting our 18 month old back on track after my daughter was born.  Now that he is 23 months old he 'all of a sudden' won't let me put him down even though we have been following the same routine for months!!!  My instincts tell me that he is changing...more aware of things, remembering things from a week before, developing fears and all this is probably what is affecting his sleep.  PU/PD worked when he was 18 months old but was EXHAUSTING!!!!  He is very stubborn and at times it would take over an hour!!!  As you can imagine i have pretty good muscles now!!  My question is, does it still work with an almost 2 year old?  I know Tracy recommends modifying it to PD only but is it really going to work now that he is more aware?  We did manage to change his routine a bit by reading to him in bed so he would lie down in his bed while we read to him and then we would wait until he fell asleep and hoping that we could eventually transition to leaving the room while he was awake.  That worked for a few days and then today he decided to make it into a game!!!  After trying for one and a half hours I eventually gave up.   Does ANYONE have ANY ideas and/or experience with this?  Anything would help!!

[KellyC]

Hi

A few months ago I asked whether PU/PD would work with a 2 year old for my sister and the advice I got was that it doesn't.  I believe there's another method involving walking out of the room but I don't know any of the specifics so I'm going to move this post to the toddler board and hopefully somebody there will be able to help you!

Kelly x

[imsmum]

Henrysmama has set out this technique at page 3 of  the post"our 16 month old doesn't sleep". Haven't tried this myself but I think a lot of people have had success with this.

[alyssa1]

I have recently had success with this for my 15 month old.  He thought that pu/pd or even just pd/stay in the room was a game.  The minute he knew I was leaving/but coming back only if he needed me, things changed instantly.
I put him down, leave, wait outside the door, if he crires the I need you cry I go back in and pd, say night night time, leave, wait outside the door......etc.   I only go back in if he needs me.  If I just hear the tired cry and he is trying to settle I don't go back in or, if he cries then stops I try to wait 10 sec. to see if he will calm down on his own.  I found personally that being in the room until he slept did not work for me - he thought we were playing a game.  I also don't see it as CIO because I go back to him if he needs me.  At first this took 1 hour and now we are down to 10 min or less for bed and naps.  Mine is still in a crib but I think the bed would be the same way, you just keep putting them back in.
I know it's in the Toddler book - I will have a look and see what I can find.

[Sleepless in Singapore]

Thanks everyone for your advice.  I found the details for wo/wi on the toddler board.  Will probably start it tomorrow.  Since I first posted this my son got quite sick with a high fever.  Today was the first day he had no fever so assuming he is fever free tomorrow i will start wo/wi.  I am actually really glad not to do pu/pd anymore...it's incredibly exhausting with a 13.5 kg child!!!!