Hiya, my 5 year old was an amazing sleeper from 9 months to 3 years old. Things then started to go awry and have persisted. Here are the issues:
- Nightly battle going to bed. She gets hyperactive around 6 o clock although I can tell she is tired really. We do all in our power to start calming her down, no screens (she actually doesn’t like telly and has no interest in iPads etc so this isn’t hard), lights low, do a calming activity like colouring etc. Avoid sugar completely after school/midday. We start the bedtime routine at around 7pm although she doesn’t always have a bath. She always has a story and cuddles. However, she messes around, jumps about, constantly interrupts the story, insists on reading it herself but is too tired and gets frustrated. All the usual questions/excuses for staying awake a bit longer: hungry/thirsty/loo. It has all become a bit fraught if I’m honest. We sometimes lose our temper because it’s just so exhausting. Trying to leave her to fall asleep alone evokes screaming and a general tantrum. (She tells us she is scared of nightmares). She has a nightlight. We tried for a long time to potter around upstairs while she falls asleep but this method can take her up to 2 hours (with lots of crying). So we’ve resorted to lying or sitting with her while she falls asleep. This takes her an hour. My husband and I take it it turns because neither of us can face doing it every night.
- She goes through phases, usually a week long, of waking in the night. Then another week of sleeping through (presumably because she is exhausted). This week, for example, she has woken in the early hours every night and come into my bed (DH and I sleep separately) and then stays awake for 2 hours. She is thirsty, too hot, too cold, has had a bad dream etc etc etc. I’m just so fed up with it.
I feel like her sleeping needs a complete overhaul but I don’t know where to start or what to tackle first. The night waking? The bedtime routine? All the sleep training advice out there seems to be geared towards babies and toddlers. Our DD’s issue started when she was 3 and now she’s 5!
I feel the pressure is on to Improve the situation obviously mainly for her benefit but because we have baby no.2 due in July this year. How on earth will I sleep at all with a newborn and our 5 year old as she is?! So that’s 6 months to get something in place. I’d rather do it now before she knows I’m pregnant and not link it to the baby at all.
Is it even possible to improve things at her age.
She’s in very good health. Super smart (her primary school teacher described her as ‘advanced’ at our parents evening). And she certainly is ahead from a numbers/reading/writing point of view. But I think she’s quite immature emotionally. Very clingy and seemingly allergic to sleep.
I’ve considered asking the GP about melatonin..... any experience with this??
Many thanks!