Best trick I've learned (and I have more than twice as many kids as the average citizen here :-) is to:
1. make sure they don't fall asleep with something they cannot keep all night (i.e. while you are singing to them, rocking them, sitting next to them or when they are drinking a bottle of milk etc)
2. make sure they understand that even if you leave the room it is just temporarily. Small kids are - for good reasons - very afraid of being forgotten or left alone.
2.1 Using a timer to remember to visit the room regularly and often as they learn to sleep alone can help a lot
2.2. Increase the interval each day. I increased it by two minutes each day.
2.3 If the kids are happy in their bed, continue to visit their room at the scheduled time: you don't want them to think that you forget them if they don't cry.
Using this method I've got my last few kids to enjoy going to bed and sleep better in less than a week fo each of them.
1. make sure they don't fall asleep with something they cannot keep all night (i.e. while you are singing to them, rocking them, sitting next to them or when they are drinking a bottle of milk etc)
2. make sure they understand that even if you leave the room it is just temporarily. Small kids are - for good reasons - very afraid of being forgotten or left alone.
2.1 Using a timer to remember to visit the room regularly and often as they learn to sleep alone can help a lot
2.2. Increase the interval each day. I increased it by two minutes each day.
2.3 If the kids are happy in their bed, continue to visit their room at the scheduled time: you don't want them to think that you forget them if they don't cry.
Using this method I've got my last few kids to enjoy going to bed and sleep better in less than a week fo each of them.