DS will be 3 yrs at the end of next month.
I would like advice and suggestions on improving bedtime.
He is a real live wire, and almost never accepts that he is tired. Consequently, he seems to find it a real struggle to drop off to sleep at night time. His bed time is supposed to be 7.30pm but it is not unfrequent, like tonight, that he won't be asleep until 9pm.
He only stopped breast feeding to sleep just before Christmas and now is fully weaned, but we don't seem to be making much progress in helping him him learn to settle at bed time.
Our evening routine is supposed to be:
5.45 Dinner
6.30 Bath
7.00 Story time - one story with cuddles on a lap, one story in bed.
7.30 Sleep
The trouble seems to be that dinner time seems to give him a second wind and although we try to keep the after dinner routine nice and calm, he invariably ends up bouncing around the house and his bedroom. He is quite often, literally, doing headstands when we are trying to get him to put his pyjamas on.
He is nearly ready to drop his nap but sometimes still really needs a sleep during the day. If he hasn't napped, then sometimes the bedtime routine will work. If he does sleep during the day we wake him after an hour otherwise he is just not sleepy for hours at bed time.
He is able to get himself off to sleep at nursery when the other children will nap. At home, he naps in his buggy or in the car. If he is super tired during the day he often asks to watch a video of nursery rhymes and will fall asleep to that. He has never taken himself off to bed for a sleep during the day.
Any suggestions for encouraging him to settle to sleep a little quicker? I am not keen on any method that will mean him getting upset and crying to sleep.