get a knob cover for the door that keeps her from being able to turn the knob. my mb and db have this issue and my last family did this with their toddler (before i was with them) and he eventually realized his own room was where he needed and was expected to be for the ENTIRE night.
they still haven't done anything but act like victims of their own child and can't seem to grasp why he wakes them and his baby brother every night. parent your child please.
Either your kid's a spoiled brat that you're enabling (okay, I'm over-simplifying here) or there's some physiological issue. My DD had a never-ending series of ear infections at that age and while she slept through the night fairly well, getting her to sleep involved a fairly involved process of bottle/cuddling/talking.
To rule out the first, just pick up the kid and take her back to bed, and try to ignore the screaming that'll occur in the first few days. If your kid has a habit of wandering around into (f.e.) sibling rooms and destroying (er, I mean playing with) stuff, a lock might have to be gotten.
Your kid whimpering is not always a legitimate problem that you have to solve.
Supernanny poster is right- with toddlers it's a matter of teaching them what is expected behavior so you treat sleep like anything other behavior you want to teach. You bring her back to her room and say "no more coming out of your bed, this is where you sleep."
You might do it 60 times the first night, and it's exhausting, but then it will be 20 times and then zero times. Just like if toddler is into food throwing. "No, we don't throw food. Pick it up and put it in the garbage." You might do it 50 times but repetition = teaching.
Our toddler has never been a good sleeper since the day she was born. Now she is 2 and wakes up in the middle of the night; goes back to sleep if we go to her; then wakes at around 3.30 to stand outside our door until she screams and we let her sleep with us.
Our ped, recommended Annika from Little Sleepers, but she has not called me back after repeated calls and messages over the past 8 days.
I need a solution fast, lack of sleep is causing major stress on the homelife.