My nearly 3 y/o suddenly won’t sleep - HELP

[Mummywhosrippingherhairout]

So for the past nearly 3 years we’ve been so blessed with a good sleeper - 12 hours a night every night. However in the last 3 days this has gone to pot. We took the side off the cot and for the first few days she was happy. And now; she won’t go to bed without me or my partner in there until she falls asleep. And when we leave she wakes up and cries. We’ve tried putting the side back on and she screams and cries and jumps over. For her safety, we’ve put it back to no side. She know refuses to fall asleep on her own and tonight she won’t even stay in her bed. She throws herself around and screams until she’s allowed in the living room to sleep on the sofa with mummy and daddy. Please can someone help, this feels like a never ending nightmare 😖😖😖.

Have a bedtime routine. Be consistent with it. If she cries or wakes in the night, walk her back to bed with no talking or smiling, just be dull. Keep going with this. It may take a week or even 2 but she will settle and learn to sleep in the new bed.

Agree with pp stand at her door while shes going to sleep. Every time she gets out of bed walk her back to her bed and say it's time to sleep and repeat untill she cracks it.
Don't let her sleep in the living room on the sofa as it will be a hard habit to break.

We had the exact same thing, same age and everything. The first night we were awake from 10pm until 3am 😅 we got 3 hours sleep before she was up at 6am...

We had to be consistent. Every time she got up, we took her hand and took her back to bed. No talking other than "it's bedtime, sweetie" and then back in bed, leave the room. Of course she screamed and protested but we needed to make sure she was sleeping well. She's doesn't do well without rest. It took about a week and we were absolutely knackered. It's maybe a bit controversial but we found that if she had a nightlight and could see around the room, she'd get up and immediately be out. We took the light away so it was pitch black and she stayed in her bed (I should say she's not scared of the dark or anything). So we had fewer concerns about safety then.

She is now waking at 5.30am (hence the timing of this post...) so we're now working on prolonging that. Same method, when she shouts at us to come and get her, we go in and explain that it's still bedtime and she seems to accept that. Of course we're then awake..

I can hear her singing "I like to ate ate ate apples and bananas" as we speak...

@showersandflowers have you tried a grow clock they are great for teaching little kids when it's wake up time. Still use it with my nearly 5 yo and it works a treat ( most of the time 🤪)