Question: My son has never seemed able to settle himself off to sleep on his own. As a baby he was rocked or cuddled or fell asleep whilst being breastfed. As a fulltime working parent i did what i could to get him to sleep, so i am aware that I am to blame. As he has got older I always put him to bed and stayed with him until he was asleep, and if he woke in the night, I would get into bed with him..to settle him quickly and to be able to function at work the next day.
He is now coming up to 8 yrs old, and still not able (or wanting) to go to bed on his own. If i stay in his room then it could be anything from 10 mins to over an hour until he falls asleep. I have tried putting him to bed later, but still the same. I have tried reasoning, reward charts, withdrawal of toys etc, shouting. When we discuss the issue (outside of bedtime) it seems to be lots of excuses, dont like the dark..he has lights left on..he isn’t tired, he has nightmares, so and so at school told him x x x ie, burglars.He seems to be getting worse..if anyone has any suggestions (rather than pointing fingers of blame) i would appreciate it, many thanks, JE