11 year old DD not going to sleep before 12!!!!!!!!!!

[christywhisty]

Then can't get up in the morning

Most nights she is in bed by 9ish. Tuesday, I said start getting ready for bed 7 and in bed by 8, which she did, but she still was awake at 12.

In the morning she is dead to the world and it is a struggle to get her out of bed and ready for school on time. This morning she was in zombie mode and wouldn't have looked out of place on Halloween.
She is in Yr 6 and has just a few minutes walk to school, but I dread the thought of her going to secondary next year when she will have a train to catch with DS.
She has alarm clocks going off, but that doesn't wake her. I have bought her an alarm clock docking station for her ipod for christmas which I hope will be louder.

I know this is Karma as I was the same, and in the end our GP gave me sleeping tablets for a couple of weeks to shift my sleeping patterns, which my mum said did work.

It's gone midnight now AND SHE IS STILL AWAKE!
I don't mind her being awake if she could get up in the morning. Should and 11 be able to survive on 8 hours sleep?
Any Ideas?

[misi]

sounds like its her hormones awaking causing a disruption in her brain chemistry. this is common in pubescent kids and does alter the sleep/wake cycle in some.

if she is growing again, 8 hours may not be enough but it depends on how deep she sleeps when she does sleep.

have you tried natural stuff first before you consider sleeping pills (do they give sleeping pills to 11 year olds?)

may be best to go see a herbalist or go into your local independant health shop for advice, but things I would try are avena sativa (oat extract) lavender oil, passiflora, hops and lemon balm. valerian is a bit strong for an 11 year old so I would give that a miss. a small bowl of porridge made with warm milk and no sugar (use fruit sugar if you need to sweeten) may be of help given about an hour before bed, this not only gives the avena sativa type ingredient of the oats but also the natural tryptophan that is activated when you warm the milk. (tryptophan is a pre cursor of seratonin, one of the main catalysts of the sleep/wake cycle).
the other reason this could be is that her brain is too active from the day. this is a sign of growth and pubescence too, although the brain only slows down slightly at night, if it is over excited, it takes far longer to slow down so taking longer to sleep.

[UnfortunatelyMurderedMe]

My dd is in year 6 and can still be awake at 11.
The only night she is asleep nearer 10 is swimming lesson night, which is half hour of laps up and down the pool between 7.30 and 8pm.
It gets later and later through the week till Sunday swimming again, could you do something energetic with her wear her out a couple of nights a week?

[Tortington]

what does she do between the hours of 8 and midnight?

[misi]

my neice who is 10 played with her DS. no matter where my BIL put it, she always seemed to find it and sneek it up to bed she sleeps like a log now from 9pm till 6.30-7am, just got to stop her brother waking the house up with his snoring now

[Tortington]

i agree with you assessment, a ds isn't exactly big is it - i could put it on a shelf in my bedroom.

i think you guessed my point though.

[serenity]

I had a similar sleeping pattern when I was that age, due to godawful insomnia (had huge anxiety problems about nuclear war and worrying about what would happen to my family, used to sleepwalk and wake my mum at 2 in the morning to check she was still alive ) I found having a radio on very, very low (creates a sort of 'white noise') helped, but in the end I just had to grow out of it. However, as you can see from the posting time, I didn't grow out of it that much!

[christywhisty]

She is usually reading. She is not allowed to take DS to bed, we have confiscated it in the past for taking it to bed, so she doesn't do it anymore.
She goes to guides on Monday night but doesn't do anything the rest of the week, except swims on Saturday morning (another struggle to get out of bed)
She used to have a story tape/cd to sleep to and usually plays an old favorite which is a bit like white noise I suppose, she doesn't seem to have it on so much now.

She is a bright and very imaginative girl so it probably does take her quite a long time to turn off and I suspect although she really enjoys school and does well, I don't think she every has to try too hard at anything so is not mentally tired.
I will try the hotmilk and something from the health shop.
This morning DH was home, it took two of us to get her up at a reasonable time and after she washed and dressed, she just crawled back into bed

[christywhisty]

She is usually reading. She is not allowed to take DS to bed, we have confiscated it in the past for taking it to bed, so she doesn't do it anymore.
She goes to guides on Monday night but doesn't do anything the rest of the week, except swims on Saturday morning (another struggle to get out of bed)
She used to have a story tape/cd to sleep to and usually plays an old favorite which is a bit like white noise I suppose, she doesn't seem to have it on so much now.

She is a bright and very imaginative girl so it probably does take her quite a long time to turn off and I suspect although she really enjoys school and does well, I don't think she every has to try too hard at anything so is not mentally tired.
I will try the hotmilk and something from the health shop.
This morning DH was home, it took two of us to get her up at a reasonable time and after she washed and dressed, she just crawled back into bed

[UnfortunatelyMurderedMe]

Has she a tellydvd in her room, could she lay, from 8-9 pm watching something? She may fall asleep.
Maybe try swapping her room about, so that theres a change IYKWIM, not the same struggle to get to sleep. Has she roller skates, or a bike, could you all go for a skate/bike ride after dinner?

[christywhisty]

She doen't normally go to bed at 8 it is normally about 9, and on Guides night it is 9.30. Just tried 8 to see if she would go to sleep earlier.
No TV in room and it's too dark now to go out bike riding etc I also don't drive so any after school activities we have to walk to which limits what we can do.
She enjoys riding but again that she can only do if DH is around to take her.

[PrimulaVeris]

My DD is 12 and rarely asleep before 11. Always has been like this - did try earlier nights but actually they made the problem worse. She needs to wind down and read for at least half an hour. She's at secondary and has to get up before 7am - once she's up and about, no problem.

Try a later bedtime, maybe do more to keep her active in the later afternoon or evening and see how that works?

I think some people are just like this - DH is same.