How do you get your child to sleep at night?

Hi Darkwing, quite a "dark" name for such a bright answer. Thanks a lot. We'll try some of your advice and hope to get more quiet nights.

Hello Darkwing! What brilliant ideas. I must try them on my own child. She has difficulty letting go of the day, too. I would have never thought to use lavender oil to soothe a restless child. Here are a couple things that I have found to work for me and my child. Most kids respond best to a stable, predictable night time routine. If you read a story tonight, make sure that you do it every night. Give your child plenty of warning that bedtime is on the way. Speaking from experience I can tell you that little kids don't like to be rushed into anything. You might start an hour or so before bedtime by gently reminding the child that bedtime is coming up soon. And, then a little later, let them know that it's time to put the toys away to start getting ready for bed. Easing them from the daytime to night time routine will make things a lot easier and less stressful than simply taking them to the bedroom and insisting that they go to sleep. One of the things that I do to make my daughter want to get ready for bed is to ask her which doll is going to be sleeping next to her that night. After she's selected her doll, we pick out her pajamas and then proceed with the rest of the bedtime routine. Best of luck with your child.

hello beautyqueen26, thanks for the ideas and the advice. There's a few things we are going to try out. I do think we already have a routine but it's always possible to make some things better.

i think he knows exactly that when he cries you turn on the light again! those 2 years old are so smart! the only thing i can advise is be strong and say no! my daughter tries it sometimes but i never get her out of bed, always say it's bedtime now. she says i am not sleepy, and my answer will be well just lay down and sing a song! and i only go 3 times to her room, and say at the third time that i don't come back again! untill now it always worked!

We just went through a rough week which started out very hard but now it is a huge succes. Our two year old cried and was very hard to get to sleep but then we decided to say stop. So we began a routine where we let her cry and just hushing a little bit and then we would leave the room. At first for half a minute, then hushing and leaving the room for one minute etc. etc. The first night it took us almost 30 minutes like this but then she went to sleep. Last night she didn't cry at all. She just lay there talking a little bit but after ten minutes she was a sleep. We are very relieved.