Bedtime is becoming a nightmare

[user01082312345]

It’s so difficult to get LO to sleep these days. I have a bedtime routine in place (dinner, bath, pjs, story time and then snuggle in bed). LO used to fall asleep suckling on my breast no problem, but recently he just wants to jump from his bed and onto the mattress we keep at the side in case he falls out during night, and then he tells me to go sleep, and when I pretend to, he sneaks up on me and thinks it’s hilarious when I open my eyes and see him standing over me. This seems to go on forever, and it’s really difficult to stay calm and not lose my patience with him, especially since we’re going through a heat wave and I haven’t been sleeping well. If I try leaving the room before he's sleeping, he just cries and runs out after me. Anyone going through something similar? Or anyone have any advice?

How old? Do they nap? For us this indicated Dd needed to drop the nap and needed fewer hours asleep.

How old?
Ours did this and we did consider dropping the nap, but we just tried putting her back into bed and it worked.
So everytime we would say night it's sleepy time, ask her to lie down whilst actually doing it for her, and then sit in the chair by the bed quietly. If she climbed out, put her straight back in no chat. Literally 50 times the first night. She'd be up straight away, but we just put her straight back in with no fuss, no chat.
Second night it only took 3 times.
3rd night she went straight to sleep.
We did it again a few months later as we needed to leave the room more quickly (new baby). Did the exact same thing but if she followed out of the door, we picked her up and put her back again and again. Worked in 1 night!

Sorry, I should have mentioned he will be three years old in September. He goes to nursery during the week and naps fine there.

I would echo what others have said. Maybe drop the nap? You could also have try 30 mins of crazy time before winding down for the bedtime routine...get out all that extra energy?

Very unusual for a near 3 year old to nap daily and then go to sleep quickly with an early evening bedtime.

Three ! He's old enough to understand it's bed time ... toughen up, leave the room. If you can't do that then at least try User's suggestion ... don't 'pretend' to be asleep, sit with him but don't engage.

My son is a very similar age and hasn't napped for ages now. When he does nap bedtime is an absolute nightmare. Maybe start trying to phase it out

It's difficult when he goes to nursery and all the children there nap....

Tell nursery not to let him sleep. You're the parent not them. Or accept that he will go to bed later.

He can have quiet time at nursery and not nap, or request only a short nap.

My DC is also 3 in September and if I ever let them sleep during the day, bed time is like you describe and can take a painfully long time. And we start bedtime at 8. So not exactly early.

Difficult if nursery are enforcing a nap. Mine haven't gone to nursery so don't really know the protocol on that and if they can keep him awake.
What time is bedtime? Maybe you'll just have to have a later bedtime until nursery ends and school starts

If it's possible to get a crib (the kind LO cannot climb out of), get one before LO's sleep issue is fixed.

If you lie in bed every time until he falls asleep, as he becomes more and more social (as he grows), he will want to engage with you more and more. And it doesn't help him sleep on his own (does he wake up in the middle of the night?) Maybe try one of the sleep training methods. There are a bunch of them on a spectrum from gentle to tough. Just pick one that aligns with what you value.