please help before i lose it.

[misdee]

dd2 is becoming a nightmare at bedtime. we have a good routine b4 bed, bath, pj's, drink, story. but then she starts playing up. she is switching her light on everytime i leave the room, climbing on the dollshouse, jumping in her sister, generally playing up. i really think i'm gonna lose it with her soon. she is 2. please help.

Don't know if 2 is too young for this, but the psychologist on Little Angels (BBC 3) does this thing where if they stay in their beds nicely they get to have the door left open, but if they get out and mess around you stand outside and hold it closed. After a few horrid nights of this the kids on the programme seemed to learn that they could control the door staying open by staying in bed nicely (and thus being more likely to go to sleep).

tried it. as soon as i think she has settled down, she gets up again, then i have to put her back to bed and start all over again. doesnt help we're in a bungalow and she can hear me in the other rooms.

It sounds from your post that she sleeps in the same room as her sister,if so are you able to move her to another room until dd2 settles? That will remove any stimulus that her sister may be giving her and also keep your other dd out of the battle you're having! Could you perhaps remove the bulb (if it's a ceiling light) and give the room a plug in light, so the room remains semi dark? What time is bedtime. Maybe you could make it a little later, perhaps she's not ready for bed.
I'm clutching at straws for you, we used to have awful times with ds, incredibly stressful evenings, both dd's were 100% better!
Good luck

i do have another room, but atm its part way thro being decorating as am expecting #3 in march. plus dh also does his OU courseowrk in there as its quiet. Was thinking about putting either a low wattage bulb in there, or removing it altogether. will give that a go tonight. bedtime is usually between 7.30-8pm, depending on how long they need to soak for (both have ezcema), which i think is late enough for a 2yr old.

I would ideally seperate them, but we went thro awful times with dd2 when younger with refusing to sleep, and put them in the same room and she started sleeping through the night. dd1 needs loads of sleep, and as dd2 wakes her in the morning she is getting grouchey as well, so cant keep dd1 awake whilst dd2 settles.

hurrah. i took the lighbulb out yesterday, and spent the afternoon putting up her wall light (moon shaped with 25watt bulb) and a set of traffic lights from ikea. means they have enough light to see by in the evenings. i switched the moon light off at bedtime, and they get to choose what colour light gets left on on the traffic lights.

So last night, and tonight, dd1 fell asleep 1st and dd2 stayed in bed and didnt switch the lights on, play up or anything, just settled down and went to sleep.