2.8yo dd not going to bed - at end of my tether!!

[emmywoo]

She still sleeps during day for 1-2 hours, have tried to cut this out but by 5pm she is vile (i know, awful thing to say about your own child!!). I take her up at 8pm, she goes mad if i leave her in room on her own so i end up having to lie on the bed with her and read about 1000 books!!!! but she wont fall asleep until 9.30ish. She then is tired the following day so has to have a sleep. I have tried so many different things but just dont know where to turn next. Can you please give any advice and advise what day sleep routine you have for your dd/ds and what bed time routine you have for them. Thanks so much in advance. xxx

My 2.2 DD has just dropped her sleep as she'd happily have a nap in the day but then she's up until 9.30 and/or (worse) awake in the night - 4am.

I let her sit on the sofa with the TV for an hour at lunchtime, so she rests, and if we go out in the car she drops off for 10 mins. She is tired by tea time but a mid-afternoon snack helps perk her up.

It is hard for a month or so while they get used to dropping the sleep (tantrums at teatime!) but it sounds like your DD is getting too much daytime sleep and needs to shorten or drop it completely.

I also find story DVDs useful, rather than the 1000 books!

thanks for replying so quickly, i agree, i think i need to get her to drop daytime sleep. I think as well she goes to childminder on a monday/tuesday and then nursery on a wed/thurs and she tends not to do much at childminders so isn't tired when gets home but at nursery and then at weekends we do so much she tends to be worn out. I will aim as from tomorrow to cut her sleeps down, would it be worth trying with just giving her a 1/2 hour sleep to start with rather than cutting them out completly.

DS is in that miserable phase of needing a nap in the afternoon but then not going to bed until 9pm. He will stay awake for no end of books/DVD. The only way is to say one story (or however many you want to read) and then time to sleep. If he mucks around I say I'll leave. If he keeps mucking around I do leave, let him yell for a minute, then go back and ask if he's ready to lie down and go to sleep. Sometimes we do this dance 5 times, but it's always a quicker process than trying to read to him until he passes out. When he gets good about going straight to sleep we'll do gradual withdrawal so he's going off by himself.