Suggestions on how to get my child to go to sleep?

[Chilver]

Hi all, just after some advise and/ or suggestions on my DD's sleep. She is 9yo and doesn't cause a fuss going to bed, just doesn't fall asleep easily! Its been going on about 2 years or so and I think she is permanently tired which has a knock on impact on focus, mood etc. She starts bedtime routine about 7pm, bed by 7.30pm and read until 8pm. We have tried earlier bedtime, later bedtime, weighted blankets, background sound, quiet music - all sorts, but none of them help her fall asleep before 9pm (if we are lucky) and then she is so tired every day (we wake her up at 7.15am on average). She was a good sleeper and had a regular bedtime routine since a baby - I think it all got disrupted with about 6 months of sleeping in our bedroom/ hotels during travel and a building project 2 years ago. Now she just says 'you know I have sleeping issues'! And now even worse as she doesn't have her usual sports to tire her out (lockdown) and she is reluctant to go running outside early evening mid winter!

Any suggestions on how we can help her fall asleep quicker?

You have tried lots of things a person might suggest. I presume the things you've tried are over a long time, but it makes me wonder whether they aren't just more chopping and changing.
Couple of thoughts occurred-
A friend of mine has some serious insomnia and her consultant advised that she stick to a routine but if sleep wasn't happening to get up and leave the bed, do something quiet for half an hour like read and then try again, so the bed is associated with sleep not with being stuck awake.
Could you go back to the routine she had before the sleep problems, stick with it, add that in and maybe look up some self-hynosis techniques.

I went to a meditation tent at Wilderness Festival once and the session was to lie down, and then some breaths, some touches (all self done) in a particular order (pressure points type stuff), mostly finger tips and ears, closing and unclosing the hand ... and then, ten minutes later, a tent full of people totally fast asleep!!! It was uncanny, I wasn't even tired going in! So such things exist and are effective - sorry I can't tell you where to find it, but it's out there.
I use some basic visualisation techniques on the odd night I struggle but my problem is occasional so not sure it would help, but I picture a spell has been cast and I am slowly, one millimetre at a time starting at the toes turning to stone, I imagine the weight and immobility of the material as the stone creeps up my body, very gradually I become like a stone statue.... I've never got further than my neck.

Melatonin can be prescribed by doctors as it influences the body response to diurnal cycle. Also lots of natural daylight helps the body rhythm (I know she's struggling to relinquish to sleep but every little helps), so as much outdoors as crap winter allows

I hope she improves, sleep struggles are horrid.

We tried the BFG Dream Catcher’s Pillow Spray and it seemed to work. I think some of it was psychological though, a bit like a placebo!
Would she take an afternoon nap do you think?

Don’t put her to bed until 8pm.
At her age she can read on her own.

Is she physically tired, doing exercise .....

Hi, thanks all. realisticsketch, thank you, some great suggestions that I'll look into.

Pillow spray might work, but she is dead set against napping Fivemoreminutes1 !!! (God knows why, I wouldnlove afternoon naps if I had the time!)

As for reading, she is reading by herself (loves reading, we often have to hide her book as she sometimes turns her light back on to read). If we put her to bed later, she stays up even later!

I would say she isn't as physically tired as she could be; lockdown isn't helping as the usual sports/ dance are either not on at all or online so not as tiring. She has an exercise class two evenings a week which is quite physical but doesn't seem to impact her sleep. Swim club was good but that's obviously not on now. None of us are keen to go out in the evenings right now either which I know isn't great.

I'll try of the things realisticsketch has suggested.