Hi there.  I have a 2 yr 4 month old who has been a great sleeper until 4 days ago.  She used to tell me when she was tired, and she gets ready for bed just great.  She used to go down with a good bedtime routine and some snuggling.

Now, she freaks out if I try to leave her room.  I stayed once or twice till she fell asleep, but I can't do that all the time.  Also I don't want to make a new habit that will be too hard to break later.

Also this morning, she (for the first time) woke up crying and began pounding the door crying for me.  Up till now she's been great about playing with toys when she first wakes up.  Never  been scared to be alone in her room.

She still sleeps thru the night, it's only going to sleep and apparently waking up alone that bother her.

So this new level of separation anxiety, is it normal?  Do I just have to ride it out, be there for her, ignore it and let her scream, or what?  Is it nightmares? 

Remind her that you do this everynight and you are there if she needs you. (Does she have night light and favorite toys or blanket to help comfort her?) leave the room. If she cries for more than 5min go in and check on her. Tell her again you are there if she needs you. then leave again. This time wait 10 min if still fussing go in and check. continue in 5 min intervals until 30 min. should be asleep by then but if not maybe she isn't ready for bed time and needs less sleep now that she is older may have to adjust time going to bed to 30 min or an hour later.

Hope this helps

DS (2 yr 3 wks) freaks sometimes too. We (hubby & I) try to comfort him by telling him that it's naptime/bedtime and then what we plan on doing when he wakes up (like going somewhere or just playing). If he continues, we'll tell him that he's not going to be able to go or do whatever.

He also started some unusual behavior like wanting all his "nite-nites" (aka blankets) on the crib railing then his door left open all the way. He would never go to sleep then because he could see that we (hubby & I) were still up. So now, our nighttime routine includes arranging his blankets just so and leaving the door open halfway.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Actually the original problem has resolved itself.  She sleeps so deeply once she's out, that naps were going till too late, and she wasn't properly tired by bedtime.  Changing our routine has remedied that.

One thing she did tell me about 2 months ago (after I had posted originally) she told me she wanted her door left open.  After we started doing that, she got a lot better about consenting to sleeptime.