WHY won't she go to sleep at night?!

[Jjou]

DD (16 months)has pretty much been a great sleeper, but since xmas her sleeping patterns have slowly been sliding downhill, and I really have no idea how to reverse the decline. Her bedtime was usually between 7.30 and 8 pm, with a bottle and a cuddle then put in her cot awake, and has now become a prolonged battle starting at the same time but finishing at 9.30/10 pm after she has screamed bloody murder when put in her cot, sobbing and tantrumming. Nothing works - she won't be cuddled and calmed, gradual retreat doesn't work.
The last few nights we've been waiting for her to fall asleep on the living room floor before carrying her upstairs - terrible i know, but neither DP or I can take it. We work full time and get a couple of hours together in the evening.
I really don't want to go down the controlled crying route, and really she has a will of steel so i doubt it would work anyway. She has got her molars through since xmas, and her canines are almost through, so I keep clinging to all this being down to teething, but I'm not so sure
Does anyone else have ANY ideas, am really struggling...

[Sheeta]

Not sure if this will help, but DS (15 months) was much the same until recently, if we put him down at his normal bedtime he would take forever to settle..

He now goes down almost an hour earlier than he used to.. just seems to need more sleep at the moment.

Is she walking? New mobility can unsettle them a lot I think...

[Jjou]

She's been walking since 11 months. I did consider the possibility of putting her down earlier as she does seem knackered about 6.30/7 pm, but it spectacularly didn't work we just had 3 hours of the bedtime battle instead!

[Sheeta]

Sorry, DS is only just walking so was thinking it might be linked.

Can you think of anything else that might have changed?

[ktp267]

We went through a patch with DD (16 months at the time) finding it hard to settle at bedtime. Leaving a small light on in her room really helped - no idea why. HTH

[Jjou]

A night light is something to try - I think a lot of it is down to separation anxiety, which she seemed to bypass when she was smaller, but is hitting her in a big way now. A light might help to reassure her. Either that or it'll illuminate all the toys she could be playing with and make it harder to get her down!!
I feel a bit bad that getting her to sleep has become trial and error, but will definitely invest in a nightlight today