We had the same trouble with my little boy. We had really no routine at that age either. He would go to bed at 11pm or later and get up at 11am which was so annoying, 1/2 the day was gone!! We brought back his sleeptime by 10-15 mins per night. He didnt like it for the first night or two but he settled after that. We now have him going to bed at 9 each night!! Such a difference. We now have time to ourselves. I also make sure he has a consistent nap time in the afternoon. He has a nap 2:30 for 1-2 hours. Making sure he doesnt sleep too long then too. He now brings his teddy to me when he wants a nap.... He is starting to know when he is tired.

~ Lyndall

Well to me it sounds like you actually DO have a routine, just not the one you want! You've let your daughter choose her own routine, which isnt helpful considering she had no comprehension of what time of day it is. At the moment to her midnight IS bedtime, and it is all very normal to her.
The best thing I can suggest for you is to let her go to bed at her normal time, then at around 7 or 8am, wake her up. Try and keep her up for as long as you can. Let her have a nap around 1 or 2, but not for too long. Then keep her up until 6 or 7. Make a dinner, bath, story, bed routine and then just put her to bed. Use the controlled crying because it really does work, but the best advice for that is NEVER let your baby become distressed. You don't want her to feel scared or abandoned. Getting into this routine WILL take a while and won't be very fun at all. But the the sooner you start, the sooner you'll have your life back! Good luck!

~ Zanabelle

I went to a sleep clinic with my son when he was about the same age.. He had only once ever slept right through the night. 1 night at the sleep clinic and he has slept through from 7:30 pm till 7:30 am since. While the controlled crying routine was hard for me as a first time mum and not wanting to hear him cry for even a second I realised it was the only way i could stay sane and he was getting the amount of sleep he needed.
goodluck

~ Melissa

Hi jess, My daughter kinda had the saome problem she wouldnt sleep properly most of thenight and only would sleep if i was givin her cuddles which was really badcos i had to sit there all night holding he and if i put he in her cvot shed wake up crying when shed realise i was gone. i ened up stressing out really really bad cos i wans tgetting any sleep at all which wasnt good for both of us and had to cal the maternal and cild health line. they suggested controled crying or comforting. i didnt want to do this as i didnt think it was good to leave her crying for ages i thought id endup getting her out ofthe cot eveyrtime she cried but i was storng and tried it just to see if would work. it took a couple of weeks and shes been sleeping fine ever since from about 6:30-7pm till 6:30-8am everynight sometimes she wakes up for a drink but thyen wants to go straight back to sleep. i also trying give her a bath and a bottle b4 bed everynight so shes in a rutine. this has worked my daughter is 17mths now sdo shes been sleeping properly for about 7mths so dont worr i think it will work out i thnk a rutine is best even if u dont wanna do controled crying or anything like that a rutine will help alot.

~ Jasmine

hi jess, i had the same problem with my daughter at around the same age to i also asked for the other mothers help i got a few good ideas but wat worked for us was let her go to bed at that time then wake her up at the time you wake up i even started to set an alarm at like 8am so i could be sure i was up to wake her it took a couple of grumpy days but i won in the end as she was getting up so early she wanted to go to bed earlier and i also stopped her from having a nap after say 330pm so she could have tea at 6 then sleep at 8 it worked and i now get sleep and she is out at 9 every nite as she is now 1 and a half so a bit older so she can handle staying awake longer but i still think 9 is a good time for bed see how that goes and good luck i no u need it ;)

~ Rhi