Why won't he sleep?!?!

As a newborn, Bear was an Angel baby, he slept, he ate and he pooped. It was a dream, he would sleep from 8 p.m. - 8 a.m. "I am so lucky" I would say to myself feeling a little smug  as all the other mum's from my Anti-natal class would complain about sleep deprivation.

Until about 6 months ago! Oh how I wish I hadn't been so smug. At the minute his bedtime routine consists of me trying for about an hour, sometimes two, sometimes three to get him to stay in his bed and go to sleep. Then he will wake up at some point in the night and point blank refuses to get back into his bed. This at times can last up to four hours!!! eventually though he will go back to sleep "ah bliss" and then he wakes up ready for the day at 6 a.m. Experts say that toddlers need about 12 hours of sleep a night. He is lucky to be getting 9 and often he won't go for his afternoon nap which then leads to tantrums and frustration as he isn't getting the sleep he needs.

We have a good pre bed time routine, bath, story, cuddles and then bed. I have tried Supernanny's 'Rapid Return' technique which is all very good and when you see it on TV, the parents struggle for a bit and by the end of the episode all is well and good and the kids are all sleeping perfectly. To Bear picking him up and putting him back in the bed only for him to jump right back out again is a super fun game that can go on for hours! I have also tried sitting in the room with him and then slowly moving away, something I saw on Bedtime Live, however this only works when I can actually get him into his bed in the first place!  I have also been really keen to take him for long walks, go swimming, chase and tickle him to get to the point where he is so tired he wants to go to sleep and this does work sometimes but there are still a lot of times when it doesn't.

So for any mum's who are also going through this with their little ones, don't worry it isn't just you, your not alone. Maybe some of you have a few tips that I maybe haven't thought of, if so please write them in the comments I would really appreciate any help and i'm sure others will too.

Happy Saturday x