HELP

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My once immaculate sleeper 2yo DD has decided she no longer wants to go to bed. Tonight, it took 4 HOURS of back and forth, rocking, laying next to her bed, sitting with her, laying with her, even changing her bedding. Eventually DH took her downstairs on to the sofa and they fell asleep together until I scooped her up and put her back in her bed. She's still down now (fingers crossed).

Any advice? She's still in a cot and has never attempted to climb out until tonight. She climbed out twice, hence why we didn't feel comfortable leaving her. We plan to take the sides off the cot now which, I imagine is a whole other kettle of fish but, anyway...

She's always self settled since about 4 months old and sleeps 7 - 7 without fail usually. Still has a lunchtime nap so, I am wondering if we need to drop the nap but, she didn't have one the o her day and still wouldn't go to bed so, it seemed at the time, that wasn't the cause.

She also has been waking in the night and not going back down for hours sometimes, too. We have even tried bringing her in our bed but, she just messes about and wants to play etc. She's never been one for sleeping in our bed with us and much prefers her own bed (usually).

Grateful for any words of wisdom! Thanks in advance

Update: DD woke at 2:30 and has only just gone back in her bed at 7am. Good job we all have to leave the house at 8:30

DD1 dropped naps entirely at 18 months (but has mainly slept 12-13 hours since then) so I’m not good on the nap advice but have you tried a mattress of the floor?

When DD1 was going through a phase like this at around 16 months I used to offer a sippy cup of water, check nappy hadn’t leaked, judge if she was in pain and then just lay down on a fold up mattress on the floor and ignore her until she lay down and fell asleep again. I used to take my Kindle in with me but 99% of the time I’d just fall asleep myself.

Actually, thinking about it DD1’s night sleep was patchy at around 16-18 months, till she dropped the nap, so maybe it is that….

I think there is a two year sleep regression. So there may be a big change for a couple of weeks. The advice online is usually continue with routine and get through. Through every sleep regression I have always made sure my dd goes to sleep in her cot to keep that routine, then any further wakeups I've bunged her in bed with us and she goes straight to sleep, which helps me. She's been an awful sleeper though so maybe that's the wrong advice.
My sympathies though

Lots of my my friends found similar around 2yo, it's a regression apparently. We went through hell for 4 months but most of my friends said it lasted a couple of weeks, (I seem to birth horrendous sleepers so not a good example) though I think a lot found sleep hasn't ever got back to being quite as good (most are around 3yo now).

Thank you for the replies everyone!

She has now decided that her new trick is climbing out of her cot... Even when she is wearing her grow bag so, think we will have to take the sides off the cot now to keep her safe. After she did it twice last night within minutes of bedtime, I laid on the floor with her and she nodded off in about 10 minutes. But, then I woke at 1am to her climbing out of her cot again and so, we brought her in our bed for the rest of the night and she slept through (Me - not so much, she's such a wriggle bum and insists on using my stomach as a pillow...)

Don't want to end up with her in the bed every night as, DH is such a deep sleeper and he rolled over on to her this morning and made her cry and also, it means I never end up getting any sleep, which doesn't work for us because, I work full time :(

So... I would be very grateful if you have any advice for keeping them in their beds and transitioning to a 'big bed'

Thanks :)