Playing in cot at night

Just a phase. Andrew did this for a while and was happy to play. I put some toys in his cot when I went to bed so that he had something to play with. He went to sleep and was fine.

Hey Fiona, Emma Rose does this and has been doing it for the last two months. It's awesome that Elle doesn't call to you or demand your attendance -- that is a bonus, becuse it could be so much worse! The only way I've found to try to put a stop to it is to make sure Em is REALLY tired before she goes to bed, which means having a super-active day. But that doesn't always work, especially since babies' sleep cycles mean that they get closer to "awake" than we do a couple times during the night, and they don't have that mental voice telling them to go back to sleep like adults do. The fact that she's self-settling is awesome, though. Meanwhile, I'd invest in some earplugs -- they work wonders! Hang in there...

Our routine is officially gone! All because when on holiday the room had blinds, not curtains so it was too light in her room.

This week Elle has refused bed before 9pm. This is the first time this has happened since she was 2mths old!
Been awake for 1 to 3 hours in the night squealing and rattling her cot.
Been awake at 5am to 7am repeating the midnight madness
Napping for 20mins only until 5pm when she crashes and has to be woken at 7 for dinner. We are having huge tantrums which indicates to me that she is not getting enough slep.

We NEED to fix this....any ideas where to start?

Up until we went on holiday on Dec 30th, her routine was
7.30am up
10 to 11.30 nap
3pm to 5pm nap
7pm bed
Slept soundly all night.

....we need that back!