Imogen was doing so well going straight to sleep when we put her in bed at night but the last week she has become a complete nightmare again. I have no idea why, maybe cause it's hot and light out still (although she has a blackout blind)

Last few nights it's been about 2hrs and shes still been getting out of bed. We ended up just putting her in travel cot so she would actually get some sleep.

I've rearranged her room all today and got her really excited about her bed, let her set up all her dolls and teddies, thought maybe this would encourage her a bit to stay in bed but no.. It's been 55mins now since bed and she's currently standing at the top of the stairs crying at the stairgate. I've decided tonight I'm just going to completely ignore her and hope she gets bored and goes back to bed. I don't know what else to do.

maybe try a bit of controlled crying, if she is still there in 5 mins go and put her back to bed dont say anything and see if that works, lilly has nights like this and after about 4/5 times of putting her back she eventually is so tired she gives up, hope you manage a better night, sorry i cant give very good advice xxxx

Thats what we've been doing the last few nights, controlled crying but it's gotten to 2hrs+ and still getting out so resorted to travel cot. Going to give ignoring her completely a little while to see if it works then I guess go back to CC type method. Not going to get the travel cot out though. Need to conquer this

i hope its just a blip and she settles, its so frustrating as we know they are tired and they just dont give up, lilly is becoming harder at night esp now she wears pants as she thinks going to the loo is a game and get up about 5/6 times in the first 2 hours of going to bed, it makes me want to rip my hair out going up and down up and down but im hoping she grows out of it! when lilly hit 2 she started pushing her limits and seeing if i would give in!
i hope she gives in soon xxxxxxxx

Really hoping its a blip, just don't understand as she was being so good. She'd even got into sleeping straight away for naps which she hadn't before and one day she completely changed. Like you said it's so frustrating as I know she's tired.
Thanks for replying xx

Caitlin is being a pain at bedtime throwing tantrums too! Iv started letting her stay up until 930pm as I cant face it anymore. She still crys, but only for 15-20 min. I need it sorted before baby comes.

Does Immi still nap? Caitlin takes 90min or so in afternoons, and she does need it most days as she becomes so tantrumy and hard work if she doesnt get it BUT on the days she has skipped naps she goes to bed far earlier with less fuss.

Its hard to know what to do. You could try cutting out her nap... but then if you anything like me you appreciate the free time to nap/get stuff done in the afternoon and it is tiring listening to a spoilt, demanding, tired toddler all afternoon. x

She does nap and really she naps for a long time for someone her age. 11.30 till 2ish. I've attempted cutting down but she's just been a complete horror in the afternoon that I've gone back to letting her have longer as clearly she needs it.

Last time C did it I went up every 5 mins and escorted her back to bed, thefirst time i explained and after that just said BED each time and took her back. first night took 30 mins then it dropped over a cpl days when she realised i wasnt gonna give in, shes same for naps now i rarely have to do more than one put back and then i ignore her and she puts herself back.

In the end Matt stood outside her door and just said bed everytime she opened the door. After a while she got in a complete stress and had a meltdown, so Matt calmed her down and laid her back down and she finally went to sleep. 2+ hours later. No doubt she'll still be up at 6.30am though!

I think tomorrow we'll just stand at the door and say bed when she gets out again and hopefully like you said Mario the time she messes around will drop down and after a few days we won't have to stand there.

Do you have a stair gate? I let her stand at the gate between the 5 mins i was leaving it id go back downstairs

We have a stairgate at the top of the stairs, do you mean have one at the entrance to her room? A few people have suggested that and I have been thinking of it.

yes, we are stairgate entral here. bedroom door, top of stairs, lounge door and kitchen so we can close off as much of the house as we need

I would get one on her door as well. We found that ignoring H was the best thing for us as he got bored after a while and put himself to bed then he got the message that crying and winging wasn't going to get him anywhere x