Taking 3 Hours to Put my 2 Year old to Bed

[JoyousLilacPoster]

My 2 year old has always been a great sleeper, even to the extent where if she didn't fall asleep straight away she would happily sit in her cot and chat and cuddle her teddies, literally wouldn't make a fuss at all.
Around the time the clocks changed a few weeks ago her sleep got worse and she started to take a bit longer to get off to sleep, she then managed to climb out of her cot 3 times in a row. So we decided the safest option was to take the side of her cotbed off.
Ever since then it has been absolutely awful. She is taking about 3 hours to go to sleep.
She is tired too, she will literally be forcing herself awake.
We have continued the same routine of bath, pjs story, singing some lullabies cuddles kisses and goodnight.
We have tried starting bedtime earlier, putting her back to bed, giving her extra kisses and cuddles each time, putting her back to bed qnd not saying anything, ignoring her when she gets up , sitting with her for an hour or so till we have thought she is asleep but will wake up about a minute later crying. So we have to start the whole process again.

When I have looked online the advice is that this stage will last a few days until they get the hint that they have to go to bed... It has been 2 weeks and I'm at my wits end.

Anyone had anything similar? Please help

What happens after you've done the bedtime routine and left?

Is she crying? Coming downstairs? Getting up to play? Calling you up? What's the exact issue?

So we live in a bungalow, she comes out of her bedroom and into the living room where we are, either crying, trying to start a conversation with us or just stands there laughing.

Keep putting her in bed in silence. Repeat and repeat.

Why are you doing bedtime earlier if she struggles to get off? Is she at the stage when she need a later bed time / less nap or no nap?

Have you tired a stairgate across her door (or closing her door so she can't open it) and making it clear she can play quietly in her room, but mustn't come out. It sounds like she needs to relearn to quietly play like she used to in her cot.

We just tested it for a couple of nights because we were wondering if she was overtired as she does seem so exhausted when we are putting her to bed. I'll try anything at this point 😂
She naps for an hour between 1-2pm and goes to bed at 7, has a story, cuddle etc.
Also might be worth mentioning she goes down fine for naps which is bizarre!

Put a child gate on her bedroom door and sit next to the gate on a chair and read a book ignore her and then move the chair further away from the gate every few days, once she realises she is not going to get any attention she will stop.

Ah yes that's worth a try! She is able to open her door by herself so the stairgate sounds like a good option. Thank you!

Either cut the nap, or do it an hour earlier and move bedtime slightly later. A wake window of 5 hours between nap and bedtime is too short.

Yeah our DD was like this. Turned out she wanted to drop her afternoon nap and go to bed slightly earlier. Give it a go.

My son used to take hours to go to sleep and would constantly call out. In the end, I did a combination of sticker reward charts and check ins. It sounds really counter-intuitive, but I would say that if he lay quietly for 5 mins then I would be back in to give him a cuddle, then it would be after 10 mins, then 15, gradually getting further apart. It gave him reassurance and comfort. He obviously couldn’t tell the time, so would just know that laying quietly and trying to sleep got lots of praise and cuddles. Then, because he was relaxed and laying quietly, he just started falling asleep (and had loads of praise in the mornings!)

I'd try moving the nap earlier - 5 hours between nap and bedtime is too little at that age. Lots of movement and outdoor time in the day.

Cut the nap. Both of mine cut them at 20 month.

Ds2 (20 month) will only nap for 30 mins max if in the buggy or car. When he was napping for 1+ hours during the day, he would cry and scream going to bed often not actually falling asleep until 8pm.

Now he’s cut the nap he’s falling asleep at 6 with no tantrums. I’ve also started walking with him as much as possible rather than keeping him in the buggy which seems to have helped with bedtimes.