Understanding - Quiet

A very general question:

Would you expect a 31month old with a history of excellent lanuage ability to understand that they must be quiet in the middle of the night (rather than talking and squealing at the top of their lungs for hours at a time)?

No matter what we try Gabrielle just starts up again within a few minutes of us reminding her to keep quiet. I ignored the behaviour totally for many months but feel she should be old enough to understand now. It is HUGELY delibilitating to the entire family - we are all exhausted, low immune systems etc so I do not think it is acceptable for this to continue.

However, perhaps I am wrong and 31 months is too young to understand and remember to be quiet? Perhaps she understands but then lies there awake and forgets again??

Thanks heaps for your reply. Since she is my first child I wasn't too sure of what to expect. I know she fully understands quiet at other times and will just whisper so I thought she might be ready to understand at night too.

I don't expect her to be totally quiet. She seems to have insomnia so whispering, playing quietly, looking at books etc would all be just fine. It is just being SO loud that the family is kept awake is tricky. Her Dad and I keep getting sick etc from the fatigue. She obviously thrives on the low stimulation at night and is louder then than she is during the day.

It is hard to know what they understand with regards to instructions that are meant to continue when you are gone hence my query about general development of this.

Good to know thanks! I wonder when they can be expected to keep the noise level down a bit?

james is almost 4 and dos,nt understand quite yet nethier does my newphew big hugs

Keira struggles with that one too. I am sure she knows what it means but to fight the urge to make noise is too much for her.
I know if someone told me to stop talking I would sometimes struggle to keep my mouth shut

I really hope for your sake she grows out of it soon!!!