3yo won't go to bed at night n ends up a battle

[Sas86]

Hi I have a 3yo that won't go to bed at night it's a constant battle from 8pm when we take him to bed till 10.30/11pm when he finally falls to sleep he gives us excuses like he's scared he needs to come back down he can't see me he got he's cold (when he's not) he feels sick he's got a cough (when he don't)
We have tried a lot of things but am getting really stressed with it now as my 1yo is starting to do the same fighting going to sleep
Has anyone got any tips or advice on what to do/resolve the matter

My 4 year old is the same. Watching with interest!

Is you DS still napping in the day? Just wondering if he is over tired or under tired? At 3 I found that DD dropped nap and was ready for bed at 7pm. If I left it til 8pm she was over tired and difficult to put to bed.

We also used a few techniques to help her stay in bed - e.g. Sleep fairy will visit with a gift under your pillow. Also used a few acupressure points to help DD calm down ready for bed as she'd get over excited and wired.

Also used lavender aromatherapy - Indigo essences do a product called Sleepeasy which is a sprays with essential oils and Bach flower remedies to help with sleep.
Also gave DD sleep inducing foods at dinner time to help her feel more sleepy - here's my blog post on that one - mydaughterwontsleep.com/2014/05/18/sleep-inducing-foods-for-you-and-your-child/

Anyway, just a few ideas - hope it gets easier for you soon - so tedious and exhausting to spend your evening trying to put your child to bed.

Hi he stopped napping when he was 2 so it could be he's over tired although he always seems so full of energy n not tired he also uses the excuse that it's not dark out yet so it's not bed time I've tried lavender he has it in his baths it doesn't help the fact he can open his baby gate n escape his room aswell so we're up and down like a yoyo
Although he gets up about 7.30-8.30 for example he finally went down at 10.30 last night and got up at 8.30 this morning but I never thought about him being over tired to be honest before you said Caroline thanx I will try these as for any other suggestions anyone can come up with

I find my DD is always up at the same time in the morning (6.30am ahhh) regardless of bedtime - yet if she gets less than 11 hours sleep you can see she's ratty and miserable in the day and seems to go into over drive. The acupressure I mentioned above works wonders for this over tiredness - here's the point you use - mydaughterwontsleep.com/2013/12/27/the-sleep-inducing-power-of-acupressure/

....although getting him to keep still for this may be another matter entirely!
Good luck!!!

Thanks Carolinementzer I've been trying the sleep fairy n it works most nights although we do get the I don't want the sleep fairy he's now not fighting bed times half as much as he used to I'm gonna give the acupressure soon see if that helps to but gonna try on my 1 year old aswell when I can work out what it is I do lol as he's not wanting to sleep at the moment