20 month old sleep help

Unfortunately (and I know that lots of people on here don't agree with this) the only way I managed to get Gabrielle out of this was to leave her to cry. She has been sick heaps in the last two months and started to play up at bed time. She would lay awake if I stayed in the room with her but would make herself hysterical crying and screaming if I left the room. As soon as I went in there she would stop but the crying would start again as soon as I tried to leave. If I got her up she would be happy but she could play for hours and not sleep.

After a few nights of struggling heaps to get her to sleep and giving in and letting her sleep in my bed with me (after 3 plus hours of trying to get her to sleep) I got so exhausted by it all that I just left her to it. I put her to bed and told her I would be in to check on her in 10 minutes then I just left the room. She screamed and screamed and I sat in the lounge and waited the 10 minutes, went in and cuddled her till she stopped crying and as soon as she stopped I said it was nigh nighs time and I would be back to check on her and left the room again. I had to repeat the whole process for an hour and a half, and the next night she cried for 20 minutes, but since then no more crying.

Leaving her to cry was tough but I am a single parent and was so exhausted with the business of trying to get her to sleep that I used it as a last resort. It was distressing but worth it.

I have tried to leave her to scream, but its frustrating because she doesnt stop. Then it seems to stress me out more when i do this & i feel i have achieved nothing.

She went down ok tonight, she started to cry. But she hadnt had a day sleep so i knew she was exhausted. She cried for 5 minutes & feel asleep, so will try this again tomorrow & see how we go.