My 7 year old has always been a bad sleeper. At 2 we got her a double bed just so we could get some sleep as we were always in with her. When she was 4 we did her room up and put a lovely single bed in there, she eventually started sleeping in it, although not until she was about 5. We spent so much time a d energy trying to get this girl to start sleeping, I'll never forget it.
She's always been hard work to get down but the last few weeks is another level. She will not go to bed. We just can't get her to go down no matter what we try. All her sleep routines stop working, her night lights, her music, her pillow spray, her yoto with meditation. She up all evening and will not go down until she has tantrumed and screamed the house down and woken up her siblings too, who we then need to spend time getting back to sleep. If we put her in her bed and talk to her gently she just gets straight out when we come downstairs and sits outside. Maybe 10-15 times we try to get her to bed, and then we lose our temper with her. We're just so frustrated. Just when she's finally down we will go to bed, exhausted and angry. Then she starts waking us up early, sometimes 4am, sometimes 5 or 6.
I have recently told her that I won't take her to the cinema or have our family movie nights again until this sleep but she doesn't change. Until now I have always gone about everything softly, with extra cuddles and reassurance but now I am wondering if I was too gentle.
She is in a bad mood all day every day as she's exhausted and has huge bags under her eyes. I feel desperate to sort this out for her health and mine. What are we doing wrong?