My 4.5 yr old used to go to sleep fairly easily, 7.30ish. For the last month or so now, it’s rare that she’s asleep before 10.30. This has turned bedtime into a horror show of me & my partner trying absolutely everything, her resisting, us getting crosser as we get more tired and hungry, her resisting more and more, shouting, throwing things, us getting even more cross...and nothing working until we give up and all 3 of us get into our bed until she falls asleep-it works eventually. We experienced similar with my son the summer before he started school but not to this extent. I’m also expecting a baby later in the year.
I know the bright evenings are difficult. I know she has some anxiety about starting school and I know she has some anxiety about the baby. What I need is some help, some advice, some technique to stop this awful awful vicious circle which ends up with all of us upset and angry. I am exhausted by it, as is my partner. It doesn’t matter what time she wakes up-6am or 8am, bedtime has been like this for at least a month and it needs to change. I read her stories and sing songs like I’ve always done..when they’re finished, things kick off. Maybe if I wasn’t pregnant I’d have more energy and patience to deal with this but I’m not so I need your advice pretty please!