Hoping others have some experience that can help. My DS1 is 9 (10 in October). I’d say for about 3 years he struggles to get to sleep. He goes to bed at 9 (we’ve tried earlier, it doesn’t help him get to sleep any faster). He reads for a bit and puts his light out at 9.30. Quite often (maybe once every couple of weeks), he’ll come downstairs about an hour later and say he can’t get to sleep. Sometimes I pop my head in to check on him about 10/10.15 and he’s still awake. I got a little sleep monitor to clip on his pillow, and it’s showing that he’s getting 8-9 hours a night but his percentage of ‘deep’ sleep is low – like 10% (I think it should be about 20%). He also seems to take upwards of an hour to fall asleep each night.
There is plenty of data on the internet about adult sleep and baby sleep, but not so much for school age children.
We’ve tried things to help him. There are no screens for at least an hour before bed, no nightlight, he listens to a short audio-story each night (in the dark). I’ve got lavender pillow spray for him.
He functions well in the day, is energetic and is doing well at school. He’s quite sporty so gets plenty of exercise (he does cross-country running and also indoor climbing).
I just worry that he’s not sleeping properly – my DH is TERRIBLE sleeper, he really struggles with getting to sleep and staying asleep so I worry that my DS is the same.
Our DS2 on the other hand is out like a light when I close his door and sleeps like a log all night.
A friend suggested melatonin but I’m reluctant to start artificially altering anything without knowing the root cause.
Does anyone else have similar going on?