Please Help My Daughter Doesnt Want to Go to Bed at Night

Oh my goodnes, that must be so hard! I have 2 two 1/2 year olds. One girl and one boy. My daughter is just like yours in the sense she has never had a problem and the out of nowhere she is not wanting to go to bed. It is hard to deal with because, I don't know about you, but I get really frustrated and I don't like to get that way with her. My daughter has done it a few times in the past 6 months (life changes and not). My son just goes to bed ALL THE TIME! :) I just kept doing what I was doing and there was cryingn sometimes and fits and then just pushing the envelope. She fought it and pushed her limit, but I still said it was time to go to bed. Yep, it takes a long time in the beginning, but eventually she will realize it is not worth it. She eventually wore down. I think even though there are no changes in family life and schedules, there might have been something in her mind or experience. You just never know. Dreams, things during the day that scared her, stories she might have heard that you didn't know she heard and interpreted it differently. That is the most amazing thing to me! I hope it gets better and I am sorry it is so hard. You are most tired by that time at night too!

maybe move her bedtime to 8. after you get done with your son have a little time just the 2 of you and put her in bed at 8. plus if you stop giving in to her sleeping in your bed, eventualy she will quit asking. just tell her no more, and mean it

You need to stick to your guns! Maybe make a clock with pics of what needs to be done at that time and change the hands. Give her something to look forward to if she listens to mommy and goes to bed. (ie special breakfast, tv show, wear her favorite shoes or clothes, etc). My daugher complains of monsters so she doesn't have to go to bed. I say that there are no monsters and I give her a stuffed animal and tell her that it's here to protect her just in case. I don't let her in bed with us or try to sleep in bed with her. I also tell her that everyone needs there own space to sleep. Don't give up. It's not easy but she needs to know that you're the boss and need your wishes respected. Arguing with a toddler gets you nowhere! Good luck.

HI- This has happened with both my girls and at about the same age.I guess they are looking for some independence but when it's late and your tired you really have a hard time focusing on that part. Does she sleep with a lovey (doll, blankey, or animal)? With my oldest I threatened to take bear if she came out of her room. It took one night. Yes for that one night their was crying because we did not have bear- BUT she knew I meant what I said and after that she stayed in her bed. Now with the second one she really didn't care if I took one of her animals (go figure) so with her I had to come up with another plan. I simply kept putting her back without much discussion very simple, a little supernanny like, and reassuring her of something we could look forward to in the morning (special breakfast or something we were doing) but in order for that to happen her body needed sleep. This took about a week- be patient. I know this sounds so easy in writing. But stick with it and you can have evening quiet time before you know it. Good Luck!!

my son did this too. i put up a baby gate at the door of his room. if he got out of bed, he couldn't get out of his room. he would cry and i would tell him to go back to bed. i let him cry a lot the first evening and he finally fell asleep by the gate. within a couple of days he was staying in bed. good luck!

This is probably a HUGE no-no, but I let my daughter (3) fall asleep with the tv on turned way down. Barney sings my little one to sleep every night. I leave it on, but turn it down all the way once she is alseep b/c she likes the tv as a night light and all other lights off. She sleeps great all night and even though turning tv's on for them is not the ideal situation, I think sometimes you have to do whatever it takes to get them to get a good night's rest. Good Luck!

E., I feel your pain! DS has been doing the same thing for the last few weeks. It's very frustrating for me and I HATE getting frustrated at him for wanting to stay up longer. I have a long commute, so when we finally get home it's like rush hour to get to bed. :-( I need to get back to my earlier hours and we are working on that.