My 2 1/2 year old has recently started resisting bedtime—crying because she doesn’t want to be in her beds, wants one of us in her room for hours, just will not fall asleep sometimes until 10 or 10:30 and then is exhausted and cranky all day. She’s in a particularly fearful phase, where lots of things that used to be fine are suddenly scary and I’m a little concerned that she’s afraid of the dark or something but isn’t saying it. I feel awful telling my screaming child that she needs to fall asleep by herself, but I also know that when #2 comes in a few months we won’t be able to be 100% responsive only to her, so I don’t want to set that precedent either.

I guess I’m just looking for support or strategies to get her to sleep. We got new Bluey and Bingo plushies that go in her crib and that fixed it for one night. It’s so hard though to hear her cry about how she wants me and have to hold the boundary. 😭😭😭