I have a 3 year old daughter who has slept with me in my bed since she was about 2 weeks old. As much as I adored getting snuggled by her (& kicked in the spleen) every night for a little over 2 years, it’s honestly one of my parenting regrets because she doesn’t feel safe sleeping alone...

I moved her into her own room in her own bed about 4-5 months ago & I was surprised that for the first month it actually went pretty smooth. But I think now that she’s caught on that this is a permanent thing she’s fighting it.

We have a bed time routine. 7:30pm she goes into her room for “quiet time”; she can play, read, whatever in her room just as long as she’s quiet (not silent, just not her usual volume which is like 10 lol). Then at 8:15 it’s time to get into bed. She chooses a stuffed animal to take to bed, I read her a bedtime story, she gets tucked in, hugs & kisses & then it’s lights out.

It may also just be that age too, but lately she’s coke up with every excuse in the book to not go to sleep in her bed. She’s even resorted to sleeping on the floor (though it’s in her room!). I will put her in bed once she’s asleep when that happens but...

anyway, her biggest thing is she’ll BEG me to snuggle her. Usually I say “just for a little while” & we’ll snuggle for about 5-10 minutes & then I leave. But she’ll get up about 5-6 times after that to come find me & beg me to snuggle her. She’ll cry, stomp, plead, beg, demand... I just tell her no, that we’ll snuggle in the morning, remind her that she’s a big brave girl & that big brave girls can go to sleep in their own beds without snuggling their mommies. I show her the stuffed animal she picked out & offer that as an alternative.

But I feel SO bad for saying no to her. I don’t ever want to deny her affection, but I’m trying to break the habit as well. I make up for it during the day & give her lots of snuggles, hugs, & affection but I don’t want her to think I don’t love her...

Any advice/tips/tricks on how to break this habit & help her feel more comfortable sleeping independently??