30 month old suddenly not wanting to go to bed at night

[het74]

Hi all, I was hoping for some suggestions/advice. My 30 ds has until recently always gone to bed with no issues at all. The last 6/8 weeks or so he's been having tantrums about going to bed. He either won't get into the bed at all and has a real screaming fit if I try and put him in. A lot of advice i've read says to keep leading him into bed calmly... not so easy if he's having a screaming tantrum though. If he does get into bed he'll scream if I try and leave the room and wants me to lie with him so i've tried this and tried moving away from him slightly each night but unless I have my head on his pillow right next to him he has another screaming fit so the gradual retreat isn't working so well. Even lying with him isn't really working so well really as he keeps chatting away and if I ignore him he starts to jump around and get out of bed. I put him to bed usually about 7.30 ish but it's now taking until nearly 9 for him to go to sleep. Am I putting him to bed too early? I'm worried he's not getting enough sleep.
Is this just a phase and totally normal?? By the time i've got him to sleep i'm heading straight to bed myself as i'm so worn out :-P
I'm not particularly a fan of leaving him to scream/cry but is this worth a go? I might have to warn the neighbours first though lol.
Any advice welcome :-)
Thanks
xx

I have no advice unfortunately but lots of sympathy as we are experiencing the same problem with our 27 month old son.

He has slept fine for over a year, then all of a sudden he's waking lots through the night and screaming the place down until one of us lies in his room on the floor next to his cot until he falls back to sleep. He won't go to sleep on his own now, have to lie next to him till he falls asleep which can take ages.

He shares a room with his sister who is in school so cant be kept awake late. Therefore we cant even let him cry himself to sleep (not that I would really want to do that anyway).

I have vague recollection that my DD went through the same thing at around his age, though briefly. So, I am hoping it's a phase and it will pass.

And I am sure my neighbours hate us!

Good luck!

I hope some people come up with ideas and suggestions for this post as I too have a similar problem.
When DS was 3.2 he started getting out of his bed directly after I walked out of the room (prior to this he has been a fantatsic self settler) and the 'silent return' approach didn;t work so I put him back in the cot. This did work for a couple of months but then he started to get out of his cot (he had been able to get out of the cot for a year but only did in the morning).
After a month of hell - he could get up 20-30 times a night between 7 and 9.30 - I cut out his daytime nap and hey presto he would fall asleep within in minutes sometimes seconds after putting out the light. The only trouble is that I have to stay in his room until he is asleep which averages out at 15mins.
But now six months on he has just started again to either refuse to close his eyes (fighting sleep) or kick off the covers or get out of bed and run into the living room - not every night but 50% of the time. Coupled with this he has also just started screaming when he doesn't get his way.
I am very consistent, quiet and persistent in the bedtime routine. And I always follow through with threats so he has missed out on day trips the day after episode but he doesn't seem to mind.
Help!

Similar issues here with DD who has just turned 3. Start getting ready for bed at 7ish, to bed for 7.30ish. We then have half an hour or so of getting settled (laying on bed, sitting beside her, holding hands...), as soon as I/DH leave the room, she's calling for us, wants to go to the toilet. Get her up, take her off, bring her back. Then she wants to hold hands again, her toenail is sharp, her bum hurts, she's too hot/cold....

Tonight we were running late with food and she wouldn't settle. DH put her to bed and after about 20 mins came out to go and get some food. Immediate reaction from DD was full-on screaming.

I am trying the quiet and calm return, silently putting covers back on etc. but this is not working.

Have any of you lovely ppl seen Supernanny? She's very good at showing tips on how to get children of that age back to bed.