Getting a child off to a good night's sleep can be a challenging task, and the methods we parents use have been debated ad nauseum. We all do it differently, although some routines remain the same. There's no right or wrong way to put your child to sleep. We parents find our own way that works and nobody has any right to say that it's wrong......... Afterall we are all still learning what works, what doesn't, and we all have our children's best interests closest to our heart. Otherwise, why would we be so concerned about finding the best methods to help our babies and toddlers to sleep? Up till now I honestly believed that I was the only Mum who's faced the problem of a child who won't stay in bed. Either everyone I know has perfect children, who go to bed at a reasonable hour and stay in their beds every night, or they're white-lying: saving face and painting a rosier picture than what it is actually like. When Nick turned two he quickly realised that he was able to climb out of his cot. I put him in a toddler bed and this was when it became even more challenging and difficult. When he got out of bed I would say in my firmest mummy voice "It's time for bed" but putting him back in became a game for him. Often I would pick him up and put him back in his bed continuously for two hours straight. I actually even started to get a hernia from constantly picking him up. This had to stop. Sleep deprivation is torture!! I was sleep deprived and he was just having fun and it was driving me slowly insane. I really had to stop, and think........ What is going on? Why is he doing this? Two things came to mind: First was that during the day it was probably unnecessary to continue making him have a day sleep if he so obviously didn't want it; Second was that he wanted something - me and my attention. Dr Christopher Green, author of Toddler Taming: The guide to your child from one to four, alleviated my fears about my child fitting into the class of children who require less sleep than the text books say. He said "These children will probably grow up to be prime ministers, leaders of industry or other irritating insomniacs..... no matter what we do bedtime will be later than what we want". So I had a laugh, cut out the day sleeps and concentrated on the night sleeps. I recognised that Nick was simply trying to express himself through his actions by getting out of bed. He was not yet talking fluently, so this extra attention at bedtime was giving him more time to talk to me, and he indeed became quite a little chatterbox at bedtimes, telling me things that we'd done together that day and what he'd enjoyed most. It was a great time for us and I learned to embrace rather than challenge it. These days if Nick wants me to lay down with him before sleep, I do so happily, even if it means lying there until he's asleep. Some important things that we've kept constant for most of his life at bedtime are focussed on routines whereby he has a nice bath after dinner, and quiet time after his bath. We then read a story in bed and if he wants me to, I lay down beside him before he falls asleep. I don't always have to lay with him, I find it is generally days when I have been busy or working and he hasn't had enough time with me...