DD 22 months will not stay in bed and settle.HELP

[appyday]

DD2 is 22 months.She shares a room with her sister who is 2 years older, always has. Bedtime is drink, story, teeth, toilet, bed, goodnight,leave, both girls at same time. Last 3 months she has then spent the next 2 hours coming downstairs and being put back to bed. We are getting no evening. Tried sitting next to bed, other end of room, closing door (freaks DD1 out), letting her wander, ignoring her downstairs, putting DD1 in our room, DD2 in our room, Separate bedtimes. She isn't even teary,just stands and waits for acknowledgement, or comes and smiles at you.Tonight she kept coming half way downstairs, sitting with the cat and chatting to him until HE got fed up and batted her one. Trawled the net,anyone here got similar or advice?

Oh god appy, I don't bloody know. DS2, 23m, is driving us mad with this.

I have no advice whatsoever, just know you're not alone

Have you tried gradual withdrawal? Don't engage in conversation, but lie on bed with her until she goes to sleep til she can do that well. Then sit on bed, then next to bed, half way to door, in doorway etc.

If she regresses, go back one stage.

I find it works well with my DS1 3.5yo and has since he was tiny.

Hi 2 both of you night owls, we try not to talk to her and if we lie with her we get climbed all over or pushed and pummelled until we move. Tonight after an hour and a half we put her in our bed and she went straight to sleep,but that was 9.30, now in her own bed, fortunately she's easy to move back. It all seems quite trivial as she isn't crying, but up and down stairs all evening is just draining.

can you put a stairgate at the top of the stairs? That might stop the coming downstairs anyway. What time is bedtime and does she still nap?

Funnily enough our health visitor suggested a stairgate across bedroom door when I saw her today. Bedtime is 7.30 and I put her down for a nap every day but she rarely sleeps except at nursery once a week or in the car. Tonight I told her she can do whatever in her room but the door is shut until she stays in bed (stairgate at our MILs 2hrs away)

Ooh, stairgate across bedroom door, that's a good idea.

Can I ask whether there was a specific reason why you moved her from a cot to a bed? On the basis that I think our DD2 will be forever up and down, I have decided that at the age of 24 months, she can stay in her cot bed for a bit longer therefore avoiding the problem you have for the time being?

She wanted to be in her sister's bed, and would lie down in the big girl's bed but not settle in her own. She has been in a big bed for 8 months now.