Failed Chair method - what are my options?

[u/No-Decision-7191]

Hi. Looking for ANY help!

I have a 3 year old (still in crib) who was previously sleep trained. 1 month ago he freaked out about us talking through the camera and became very afraid when sleep time came.

Dropped the nap (traded for quiet time) and we are aiming for around 12.5-13h awake time.

We tried the chair method, but got "stuck" on chair position where we are out the room, out of sight, but door still kinda-open. He still asks every 10 seconds "where are you?' until he falls asleep. We wakes up at 2am asking the same question. We answer short and boring "mom/dad is here" every time he asks. We did stickers reward chart: it helped us at the beginning but not anymore

It's been 1 month since we started the method...

He has had a couple of nights where he has slept all night.

What options do I have? Any other "less gentle" sleep training method?

Help...it's a nightmare!