Children refuse to sleep.

[Kellytrevor1]

I'm having some major issues with getting my Children, 2&4, to sleep. The earliest they are both asleep is 11, but most nights my son is up until gone 1 some nights even 3. Then they will both be up at 7. This has been going on for months. I've stopped my son napping and we do plenty of activities during the day which should tire them out. My daughter used to sleep perfectly. I would put her in bed read a story and she would go straight to sleep. Me and my partner split up a year ago and I can't help but feel thats to blame. I'm completely out of ideas on how to settle them down and get them to sleep. Any advice would be really appreciated. Thanks in advance from one tired worn out mama!

Whats your evening routine like? Do they have time to wind down from the days activities.

After tea they have a bit of time to chill out.. my daughter usually does some colouring and son plays with his cars. Then we go up for a bath. Have a story in bed. It is usually me reading a story while they run up and down the bedroom. I have no idea how to get them to calm down for a nice calm story. I also don't know if I should be attempting to get one to sleep before the other but I don't know how to do that when there is only one of me. I tried giving them a shower in the morning because I thought that the exciting bath time might be the problem but it really didn't help at all.

Do they share a room? Maybe a reward chart - stay in bed until you fall asleep for 5 nights gets a small reward etc. At 4 year old it's old enough to understand to stay in bed, do you try stop them running round the room? As this can fuel their behaviour, sounds like they are doing it for a response. Have you tried the battle of getting the 2 year old down first while oldest keeps herself busy in the living room because she is a big girl now and gets to stay up a bit later than her brother.

They do share a bedroom. I've tried calming them down and stopping them running around but it never works. I can get one sat down and reading with me but then the other will carry on and then the calm on will join in, its a nasty circle of this until i eventually finish the book. I did have the 4 year old sitting nicely watching a short film like stick man etc but with the youngest not settling at all she was watching it all and then finding a burst of energy or she would get up to something like helping herself to biscuits. They bounce of each other constantly and love playing and being silly with each other so when it comes to calming down and sleeping it feels impossible. I've just bought loads of stickers to try a reward chart but I'm not sure how to do it until I can get her brother to settle down a bit. Its a catch 22 situation where neither will sleep until the other one has which has ended up with none of us getting much rest.