Hi Natalia,

Welcome to BB! You might be surprised with your DS accepting you leaving the room. My DD was always rocked to sleep as a baby and as a young toddler I always lay down with her and then graduated to sitting with her while she fell asleep. She is now 4 and we had lots of talks about her starting to have some space to fall asleep on her own. I think it comes down to building up trust that you will come back and check on them at the time that you said, such as what Santosha said above - Mummy will let you relax and try to go to sleep now. I will be back in 5 minutes to see how you are. - BUT the big thing is making sure that you do go back in 5 minutes. Once he can see that you will come back when you say or that if he calls for you, you will return, he may feel comfortable enough to sleep without you there. My DD is really into feeling like she is a 'big girl' at the moment so giving her opportunities like this she actually thrives on them. I have been more than a little surprised at how much she has taken them in her stride.

Janie xxx