I am at my wits end. Bedtime lasts 2 hours. He yawns, I put him down, we read books, he gets up about 40 times!!!! I can't take anymore. He is 19 months old. I might try the rope trick. Does it work???

I certainly had success with it when my boys were 3 and 2 and shared a room. i know that it seems a bit drastic but desparate times call for desparate measures!!

Does this mean there is light at the end of the tunnel??? It was three hours tonight!!!! Three damn hours!!!!! DD was never like this. At this age she went to bed sweet as pie and never got up once we told her it was sleeping time (except at 3 am to show me her toys but that's different).

AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHH.

Now where can I get some rope from?

I had the same problem and there is light ,yes, although i see that my spelling hasn't recovered! I used skipping ropes and it didn't take very many nights for the message to sink in. Funnily enough, it was at the same time of year - light nights are catnip to small boys who want to play!
good luck - do post how you get on!

OK, we have rope now (thanks for the skipping rope tip) although tonight DH stood there holding the door whilst I looked after DD who managed to work herself into hysterics after she fell off her scooter!!!! Still, bedtime was down to an hour tonight so maybe things are getting better. DS will drive me to drink, I swear... I will see how tomorrow goes.

Is he teething his molars?

He is definitely getting his canines so perhaps he is getting molars at the same time. However, he doesn't seem to be in any discomfort, he just doesn't want to sleep.

He IS sleepy, I know he is. He yawns, he almost dozes off and then he fights off sleep and starts thrashing around, then he gets up and comes out of his room.

I think the heat isn't helping either. I will probably give the rope trick a miss until the weather breaks and will try tricking him into sleeping in the pushchair and then transfer him over when he is sound asleep - once or twice won't hurt will it?

WTF is the rope trick?

Nothing sinister!! You just tie the door handle to something so that they can open the door a bit but can't squeeze through to get out of the room.

please please don't do this What a horrible thing to do - it is essentially locking your child in his room. Can you not get a stairgate to put across the door instead?