ds 20 months wont stay in bed, feel quite down about it

[Firawla]

On friday he just started jumping over the side of his cot every 2 mins instead of settling down to sleep, took 1.5 hours to get him back in and settled. so on weekend we had to take the sides off and turn it into a big boys bed (its a cot bed, so same bed just took the side off..) but since then he just will not stay in bed when i put him down. until now he has been a really good sleeper, i put him in about 6.30 (i know quite early..) and he would talk 2 himself in cot for a little bit then sleep with no crying or being upset or nething like that, and get up @ about 6.30 - 7. i have another ds 3 months, so i was happy that he's just going down no problem so then i can do babys bath and bedtime and get them both in bed for a decent time (like 7.30 both down)
but now since he realised he does not have to stay in bed its like he wont stay there @ all. i know its only a few days but im really worrying that he will get into a bad habit now and keep it for ages.
have been trying to do the supernanny style technique just keep putting him back, after 2 times dont talk 2 him just place him back.. but im not sure whether its working or not? sometimes he has gone back but then got up again later. last night his dads just gone to sleep next to him @ 1am as he stil kept getting up & he needed to get sleep for work next day & i had to do ironing & feed baby so didnt want him to keep getting up after that time. so its like we've not been consistant with him, but its very draining keep placing back for 1.5 hrs only to have him up again & repeating that after 2 more hours..
he is getting his canine teeth thru @ the moment i dont know if thats affecting his sleep. hes not normally too bad with teeth though?
just hoping someone to tell me theirs was doing the same but settled down in a few weeks? or any advice pleasee
i keep dreading his bedtime now whereas before i would look forward to a bit of time to myself when both are settled in bed.
also quite worried he's not getting enough sleep now with all this messing about @ night, he usually liked a lot of sleep 12 hrs + 1.5- 2 hr nap
today going to cut out his nap n see if he just sleeps if he is reallyy knackered & tired out but i feel sorry for him cos he finds it hard with no nap
i dno what to do for the best

I don't think I would cut his nap, being overtired does not always result in a good nights sleep.

Keep going, it should fix quickly. At 20 months, they can understand more than we sometimes give them credit for. Explain why he needs to stay in bed, get sleep etc and what the sleep rules are. Get him to buy into it, draw pictures on a "reward" chart (if you agree with reqards that is, and homemade ones are the best) and get him to talk about the rules / pictures and agree to them. Might be a bit much logistically but think about letting him stay up and play quietly nearby (or watch a DVD?) while baby is being put to bed and have "big boy" stories in his bed afterwards.

Good Luck!!

Hiya, we have been having this problem with a slightly older toddler 2.5 years, I have fitted a babydan removable stairgate, and have been leaving him to it at bedtime, with the door open just keep returning to reassure him that mummy is not far away. I'm not sure whether your LO is old enough to take himself back to bed? I can't quite remember, but this is working really well for me, I posted about this a few weeks ago. Also read the mumsnet article about toddler sleep problems it is brilliant and should give you some ideas to try. Someone else who put a stairgate up said on one of the discussions that her LO actually ended up falling asleep next to the stair gate and they put her to bed when they go up, they leave a duvet on the floor by the gate so she's comfy. It's a horrible problem to have to cope with especially if you've been used to leaving them to go off and suddenly they can escape! I think they're a bit young for the supernanny techniques at that age but up to you of course. For me the stairgate technique has been working like a treat, the first couple of nights it was 8.45 (but my DS had been staying up until 9.30/9.45 so for me that was a miracle!) last night it was 8.15. I think it takes a couple of weeks for them to get used to any new situation but decide what you're going to do and stick to it. Good luck!

thanks for the replies

well he's fell asleep now anyway in his buggy on way back from toddler group as he was really tired, so im thinking to wake him up in 5 mins so its a short nap only, so hopefully not too overtired but still tired :S

i think he might just climb over a stair gate too, as he's quite tall for his age but still might give it a go and see

i think thats the difficult thing just to chose one thing and stick to it, if it doesnt work after 1 day i feel like trying something else.. suppose i just have 2 keep going with it and give it a bit more time