Am I just being a fussy mother?

[Dixiestampsagain]

DS10 is going to PGL with the school in a few weeks time for 3 nights. He has terrible insomnia and gets stressed out about it. He doesn't like sleepovers because of it and is worried that he won't get any sleep as the others might be excitable/noisy etc. He's brought a sheet home for parents to fill in any medical problems/anything school should know. Should I say something about his insomnia, just so they're aware- it is a genuine problem and he does get very worried about it. Will I just look like a fussy mother for putting that on the form? He's also the very youngest in the year- some are already 11 and he was -10 last week, so maybe doesn't cope as well with some things. PS the 'quieter' friends he would normally choose to share with are not going, but he has a wide circle of friends.

NB long time user but new account as I have a new phone and can't remember my old login or retrieve my old account!

Yes, put it on the form. He won't be the only one. Not PFB at all.

Yes put it on. If they do room checks at 2 am and he's awake its better there's form for it than them saying go to sleep and him saying I can't. Of mention its exacerbated by noise and stress

I would put it down . Teachers can work with this information

Yes, put it on the form, it's helpful for the school to be aware of it. That's what the form is for !

Thank you for the reassurance- I'll definitely put it on. I've taken school trips abroad but only much older kids, who don't ever seem to care if they are awake all night!!

Was just wondering, what have you/he tried to overcome it?

Hmm, not real sure what to do to be honest. I started suffering with insomnia at the same age and haven't cured it yet! He doesn't have a TV or iPad or phone or anything in his room, has a milky drink- all the usual. He reads voraciously and finds it hard to switch off.

As others have said, put it down, and mention that he gets anxious about it. I used to be primary teacher and this info would be useful as you don't want to get cross with a child for not going to sleep if it's a genuine issue for them.

Yes please put it down! (Brownie and Guide leader here). We'd much rather know something might be a problem in advance rather than at 3am!

If there are strategies you use at home to help him then discuss it with the teacher if you can, or put it on the form if not. Some may not be practical with 20 other kids but some may help but might be different than the usual "overexcited kids can't sleep" tactics the teachers normally use.

it might be worth (both of you) trying relaxation/meditation mantras on youtube. My DH suffered a bit for a while and they really helped him switch off.

Yes definitely. DD is a sleeptalker and we put that on her form too.

One thing that helped my insomnia was being reassured that there is nothing inherently bad about being awake at night: that you can get a similar amount of rest from just lying quietly as long as you don't get worked up about it.

Yes, tell them.

I was an insomniac child and would sometimes get told off on school trips for being awake when other kids were asleep, and wasn't allowed to read quietly while others were sleeping or listen to audiobooks on my Walkman (showing my age there) which would actually have really helped me be less anxious and probably soothed me to sleep eventually. So I just had to lie there bored and worried for hours. Would have been good for teachers/adults on such trips to know I wasn't just staying awake on purpose and had no intention of disturbing the other kids.

I'm a yr6 teacher, running our residential this term (5th year running!)- not at PGL so it's not the same school. Please put anything like that on the form. It's hell if we encounter a problem in the middle of the night which we aren't expecting, much better to be forewarned about anything.

One thing that helped my insomnia was being reassured that there is nothing inherently bad about being awake at night: that you can get a similar amount of rest from just lying quietly as long as you don't get worked up about it.

This was so true for me. I read some BBC article about how '8 hours of unbroken sleep' is a newish idea and people used to expect to have two sleeps and to be awake in the middle .

It was an absolute epiphany for me - funny enough I'm not waking in the middle of the night now, but if I do then I don't care about it and that was completely transformative.

Nobody needs to care if the child is asleep or awake, as long as he's not rioting about.

I absolutely agree about the 8 hours thing- it's worrying about not getting enough hat keeps you awake half the time. Thanks all- I hadn't really thought of lots of the points made.