2 year old hardly sleeping

I have a two year old daughter, she'll be 3 in february, she sleeps in her own room. A of the past few days, maybe a week, she has been asking to go to bed around bedtime, her dad and I put he to be together and go to bed ourselves (between 10 and midnight). She has been either falling right to sleep and waking after 2-3 hours or staying awake until anywhere between 3-5am and then sleeping 2-3 hours, she doesn't take naps, never has taken naps. She is just simply awake all the time, what are some things I can try to get her to sleep? Im also 9 month pregnant so I'd like to get some rest before baby gets here...

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

The most important action you can take is to have her go to bed at the same time each evening. It sounds like she is going to bed too late. This impedes the normal circadian rhythms that control the sleep/wake schedule and impedese the functioning of melatonin, the substance secreted by the brain's pineal gland that induces natural tiredness as darkness sets in. She should be going to be around 7:00-8:00. Don't worry too much about the recent change. She will return to her baseline sleep schedule.