to want to sedate my child in the evenings!

[friendlysort]

Obviously I don't mean this, am not in favour of unnecessary drugging.

However, my 6 year old DS is impossible in the evenings and it breaks my heart. Following on from the 'all sleep issues are the parents fault thread' he has always been difficult to get to sleep and we have tried everything since the day he was born.

He finds it impossible to wind down, and the more tired he gets, the more frantic and irrational he becomes and the less sleep he gets.

He eats really well, we walk to and from school plus he has plenty of other physical activity.

His concentration is poor, and far far worse when he's tired and I worry that it will have more and more impact on his abilities at school.

Last night, he was exhausted. He becomes impossible to keep still, can't sit down for story - makes snorting noises, contorts face, thrashes legs about, kicks off covers. If I leave him to it, he gets up and starts emptying cupboards.

It is proper hyper active behaviour, although he is perfectly fine, bright and lovely when not tired (although always very energetic)

I eventually got him to go to sleep at about 8:15, but he was still up at 6, thrashing around, being fidgety and grumpy.

All of a sudden I just feel so sad about it, I don't like him when he is like this and I feel like I am letting him down.

I just wish I could do something to knock him out for 12 hours so he can reset himself and get back to his normal lovely self.

[sleep deprived and emotional cavat]

I am not actually going to drug him

Phenergan is an antihistamine. I took it for hayfever/allergies through to adulthood.

I recommend night time rescue remedy - brilliant for calming down and switching off. About a fiver from boots. You can put some in his bath and give drops directly on tongue.

I think it was from a chemist. My aunt got it so I'll have to ask her

yep you can get phenergan from a pharmacy without prescription but you'll be better off saying it's for DC's cat fur/dust/pollen allergy than saying you want it for sleepiness. (No passing judgement here - one of my friends did it recently to give to her DS on a long flight)

this book is really good - helped my DD (although she's still a late sleeper)

Thanks Emsmaman , i am using the Rescue Remedy night which seems to be really good. I might need it though when ds is born in Jan, so that dd sleeps better and is not woken up by the crying for school.

no not to use on newly born ds but dd so she is a bit calmer at night.

Ahh the wonderful little blue pills!! I use Phenergan as an adult to control severe allergic reactions and although I sleep like a log after taking them; whether I want to or not, even in the middle of the day, I also find it hard to wake up properly afterwards. If you DO decide to try them, I suggest a Friday night may be the best time to see how he finds them, as I know I wouldn't want my children off to school with a 'woolly' head!

Incidentally. last time I bought some, the pharmacist asked me 20 questions, what and who they were for, what dose I use etc. After I had explained, she apologised for all the questions but said she has to be sure I am not using them to sedate my child without medical advice/support.

I'm not judging or offering an opinion about whether to use medication as I have a teenager of 17 who has never slept more than 5hrs a night in his life - still doesn't and there were times I could have wept with exhaustion and happily taken up my mothers advice of brandy in his warm milk . Story CD's worked for us, to relax him and keep him in bed, at least resting.

I could have started this thread when my DS was about that age. He used to be prowling the house, up and down to the toilet every five minutes (didn't actually need the toilet, was just a reason to get up) rolling around, feet up on the wall when I was trying to read to him etc etc, a totally different child to how he was during the day. He was up at crack of dawn come rain or shine! He was also extremely hot and sweaty at night and snored for England once he eventually dropped off. He has told me how much he used to dread bedtime as he knew he would struggle to get to sleep despite being tired :(

What I wish we had done (but didn't know to do at the time):

1. Asked GP about Melatonin - would much rather use a natural supplement as a first resort and hold out on the antihistamines for now. Get paediatrician referal if necessary for prescription (in the US they can buy it over the counter for jatlag/shift work etc)

2. Got his addenoids (sp?) looked at and sorted if necessary. (They shrink naturally as they get older and he no longer snores)

What we actually did:

Battled on till he got old enough to read and listen to tapes and at least stay quietly and reasonably contented in his room.

Replaced bedtime milk with fruit juice - cut down on the sweating a lot. Cut down on dairy though didn't cut it out completely.

Bought organic buckwheat pillow and cotton bedding in case the synthetic fabrics were contributing to sweating - also helped a lot.

My DS is now 17 and stays up till all hours and catches up on weekend mornings - I don't think he could sleep earlier even if he wanted to but it's something he can live with now as it's not such an ususual sleep pattern for a teenager!!

HTH

No I don't think I will give dd phenagen she is not too bad at sleeping now, wakes up usually once a night and i just put music on, leave water by her bed and she goes to sleep.