how long does it take for your dc to go to sleep?

[lilybird]

it is taking me upto 2 hours each night to get dd alseep.
we have a sticker chart which is she goes to sleep nicely she will get a smiley face. but does not seem to be working, says she doesn't want a sad face but then plays up again the next night.
got so bad last night,dh had to come and take over.
so sick of the same bedtime arguements every single night!

how old is she?

she's 2, 3 in march.

Does she still have a a nap in the day? could it be that she's simply not tired enough?

what time does she go to bed?

she does have a nap, on the advise from hv, as she's not a great sleeper full stop.
she does normally sleep better if she's had a nap in the day.
but yesterday she'd had about half an hour in the car on way to my mums, she was dead beat by bedtime, but was one of the worst nights ever!

we start her in the bath about 6.30/7.00

I wouldnt drop her nap. An over tired child is harder to get sleep! Start her routine a little later,see if that works. My Ds just 3 went through a stage of not wanting to go to bed, so I just relaxed the routine. He then started asking to go to bed!!!

may be a rod for your back, but I saw on supernanny or something like that, where the parent stayed in the room, but didnt talk to the child (parent sitting on chair, reading their own book or crossword, whatever) but if the child got out of bed, the parent left the room. Worth a try?

I'd second overtired, but I'd suggest making bedtime a bit earlier, half an hour or so

depends how big a problem it is!
I am very relaxed about these things. does it matter if she goes to bed happily at 8 or takes 2 hours at 6?