My nearly four year old daughter has never been a great sleeper. But now, once she's asleep for the night she's pretty much asleep.
But getting off to sleep is such a struggle. She just doesn't have an off button. At around 7.30 we have bath/shower, stories, warm milk drink, then settle her down with audio books. Usually she'll still be awake 2-3 hours later. Sometimes we stay with her, sometimes we leave her, it doesn't seem to make much difference.
If she has a nap in the day (even 5 minutes) this fuels her to be awake gone midnight. She's a late riser and will often need to be woken in the morning (unsurprisingly). She's active during the day (lots of walking, plus swimming, gym, ballet etc once a week) and the pre school she goes to has an 'outside in all weathers' policy.
We're both exhausted as also have a toddler who wakes during the night still. Any advice - we're pretty desperate. Thanks in advance