Anyone else dealing with this?

My toddler is 2.5 years old. Doesn’t take naps (refuses to) and is awake 12+ hours a day. Bedtime is a nightmare. We have a routine that they love but for whatever reason getting them to lay in bed and stay in bed is awful. It’s a 3 hr fight sometimes. It’s draining the life out of me doing this every night. We do dinner, bath, snack and milk, one episode to cuddle up to, butt changed, teeth brushed, read two books (sometimes five lol) and tucked in. This process is 2+ hours long itself. They have a weighted blanket and lovies they sleep with every night. But why is it such a battle? Any advice? They don’t like night lights. I just don’t know what to do. It’s a meltdown (I’m talking full on screaming and crying at top of lungs really shrilly and terrible for their baby sibling sleeping in the next room is often woken up) for them to try to go to sleep. They can’t tell me why and just won’t say anything. I truly feel like I’m losing my mind. Please help!

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Have you tried sitting or laying with them while they calm down - does that help any?

Same here. My daughter shares her room with her 5 month old baby brother. She usually wakes him up like 3 times after I get him to sleep because she refuses to go to bed. She always says, "I'm hungry."

@Maggie yes, I’ve laid with them, I’ve even tried rocking them. They refuse to go to sleep until they’re so tired they physically can’t keep their eyes open.

Mine fights it too. I’ve set up a dynamic (for better or for worse, I don’t know) where I stay if they lay in bed and close their eyes. I explain I’m there to help them fall asleep but I have other things I need to do with my time if they aren’t ready to sleep. Then when they break that boundary I leave the room and close the door. They cry pretty hard for up to five minutes then I go back in and we try again. It’s exhausting to cry like that for five full minutes. I can’t say it’s wildly successful but it cuts the time down significantly and a sleeping toddler is the result.

Maybe adjust the bed time to a time you know they'll be tired? Like do they crash out at the same time every night? Maybe you could adjust bedtime to be when they would normally crash out. We have to adjust it sometimes when my LO sleeps in or takes a longer than average nap

Not sure if it would help, but maybe try no more food after dinner? My daughter gets so much energy after she eats, so wondering if they are getting the same from the later snack? Here's our routine, in case it helps: after daycare we play together, then she watches 1 episode of a show while mom and dad get dinner ready, then dinner, long bath (she loves staying in the tub for 30 minutes, haha), then pjs, brush, books, bed. She usually has dinner around 5:30-6:30pm, and bedtime is at 7:30pm. I hope it gets easier for you soon. ❤️

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