toddler awake for long periods at night

I haven't really struck this problem but was just thinking that if it is taking that long would it help if you did the entire bedtime routine again from stratch? Maybe do the bath/shower and teeth brushing etc and then the story and then turn the light off. If she goes to fine at the begining of the night then going through the whole routine again might switch her brain back into relax mode in the middle of the night? If it worked then you could skip the shower/bath after a few nights and just start at the story (or whatever you do before lights out).

Also thinking maybe there is a reason she is waking? Is there street light shining in her room or a noise waking her? Or maybe she wakes out of a deep sleep and is upset at being alone in the dark if you don't have a night light. Or maybe you could suggest to her that if she wakes up she can have a look at a few books till she feels sleepy again (if there is enough light in her room to do this).

If she is still having a day sleep maybe you need to cut it back (or out completely). Maybe she is waking because her body is meeting its sleep requirements for the day.

Hope some of that helps.

We had some problems like that recently. I realised I was expecting my son to sleep more than he needed to. He's 2.5 and sleeps a total of 11-12 hours a day, no more. He doesn't usually have a day nap, but if he does, then he needs to go to bed hours later than usual or he'll be awake at night. If I put him to bed too early, he'll either wake in the night or get up way too early in the morning. I find keeping him up a bit later works well.

Don't know if this applies to you, but I'm still
breastfeeding him, and I've noticed that if I drink any alcohol, it messes up his sleep. Less caffeine seems to help too.

Thanks for the replies guys, sorry i havent replied myself yet but we've been trying a few things.

Turns out she still needs a nap - i tried cutting that out for 3 days and she was terrible, up way more during the night and super grumpy so have started them again (thank goodness because I really need a nap during the day too ha ha)

Got some sleep drops from the naturopath that havent done anything yet but did get told they would take almost a week to start making a difference.

We think we're going to have to do a bit of tough love/verbal reassurance with her (its from the sleep store site), nothing else we're trying is working so will give it a go for a week and see. FX we'll get a good nights sleep in time for number 2 to arrive