Sleep is a really tough issue, and you have my sympathy! When my daughter was 18 months she couldn't go to sleep alone and would wake crying for me every night. She'd had some serious health issues and even though I'd been told she was okay after surgery, it was hard to leave her, especially when she was upset. We met with Dr. Ferber himself at Children's Hospital in Boston. I'd heard he was really strict, cry-it-out, and I was nervous, but he was wonderful and warm. He explained that if you let your child fall asleep with you there and then discover in the night that you're gone, it's the same as it would be for an adult to roll over in the night and discover that your pillow is gone. You need your pillow to fall asleep and without it there, you're going to be up looking for it until you find it rather than go back to sleep. The child has to learn to fall asleep without you. He helped us come up with a gradual plan where I slept on the floor in her room and she could see me but had to fall asleep in her own crib, without me holding or touching her. When she could do that, I would gradually step out of the room for longer periods just after putting her to bed, saying I'd forgotten my book, or needed to brush my teeth, or I had to tell Daddy something. I would always come back, but the times got longer. He said that when she could fall asleep with me out of the room, we'd be home free and we were! After that, I moved back out of her room and she slept through the night. If she woke, I could reassure her, but go back to my own room. It's a process, but it worked for us. She's almost 10 now and hasn't had to have me sleep with her since then! Good luck.