Will not stay in bed!!!

Help please, we are at our wits ends.

Hannah was always a great sleeper in her cot, she would play for a while and then drop off to sleep without a problem. In April we put her in a bed and while she is happy to sleep in there, getting her to stay in her bed initially at night is impossible. At the moment we are taking up to an hour to settle her at night (no hassles at all at lunchtime). We have tried the approach of not talking to her and just putting her back in bed, Ive tried telling her that if she stays in bed she can have the door open (which she likes) but as soon as she gets out of bed I will shut it. We sit on the couch outisde her room until she drops off, not because we want to but to stop her running down the hall into the lougeroom going "Ta Da".

I think the problem is that she is seeing all this as a big game rather than routine but I dont know how to switch it back. At the moment I am waking her after 1 hour at lunch so she doesnt have too much sleep during the day.

I do not want to put a lock on her door, I hate that idea so Im hoping someone else can help.

Have you got a routine before going to bed and maybe while she is first in bed.

The same thing happened with my nephew and the only way we coudl cure it was to have quite a drawn out going to bed routine which involved much prebed faffing about but also a story and then counting the glow in the dark stars on the ceiling (which can only be done when the light is off)

There was also a deal that if he woke up first he had to count the stars then he had to practice his wistling (which he can't do gratefully) before he got up.

Mimo,
We sound like we are having similar problems..the only thing that we havent done yet is to put one of those gates at the bottom on her doorway so she cant run around the house at night. If I tell Eliza to go back to bed or even try and take her back it is horrid she goes hysterical. It is easier to have 3 in the bed.
I'm sure it is a stage of pushing boundries BUT it is funny because we have no problems through the day either
Bec