Six year old having trouble getting off to sleep, any ideas?

[RedLeaves]

Six year old DS gets plenty of exercise, fresh air etc, is tired at bedtime but often takes up to an hour to get to sleep.

I feel really sorry for him as he is very tired and hates lying there not sleeping but seems to have such trouble going off.

Has anyone else been through this and found a good remedy?

I'm in a different time zone and won't be back for a while but will check in again.

BTW, he has a bedtime routine, isn't got all excited before bed or anything obvious like that. Would really appreciate hearing of others' experience. Thank you.

He could maybe read a book in bed quietly until he feels sleepy? Counting sheep? You could pin a detailed picture to the ceiling above his head that he can study... (my dentist has something like that and it makes me feel woozy every time) Most people don't fall asleep the minute their head hits the pillow and it's quite normal. The worst thing you can do is make a big deal of it.... wondering 'why am I not going to sleep?' tends to keep people awake.

My DD (5.6) has the same problem. She is happy to look at books etc quietly in bed but has terrible trouble switching off and actually getting to sleep. The knock on effects were becoming hard to deal with as she would often remain awake until 10pm and then be grouchy the next day (but still not fall asleep any earlier the next evening, so on it went).

What has really helped us recently is a cd called Bedtime Meditations for Kids by Christine Kerr. A friend recommended it to me as a wind down aid and it really has helped a lot.

Our new routine is that she is in bed by 7.30pm but can keep her light on and look at books etc. At 8pm we go up and turn her light off and switch on the CD and she has been dropping of to sleep very quickly after that which has been a major breakthrough meaning she's been a lot less grumpy in the day. My hope is that the techniques of the CD will get ingrained into her so that she learns to switch off without it too.

An hour to get to sleep is normal for me and most the DC, always has been. But it's a pain with DS (also 6yo) because he won't just quietly play all that time, he wants constant interation. Typically he finally nods off about 9:45pm. We are trying:
Blackout curtains + heavy duvets over them to get room as dark as possible
Ban on talking
Ban on food from 8pm onwards.

Nothing is really working, yet(?). I think he'd find listening to a bedtime CD quite irritating, but will look at that.

Thank you all. Yes I agree, if you are thinking "bother I can't get to sleep" then that can make it worse.

I wonder about the CD idea. I'll ask him what he thinks, not that we've got a portable CD player but no doubt we can find one somewhere. It could help.

I love the picture on the ceiling idea too and will look into that.

As usual, on MN, it is just good to know that others are out there dealing with the same stuff. Not that I'm glad anyone else is suffering of course!

Thanks again everyone.

classical music CD (or radio) may help, at a low volume so it's background sound.

If using a duvet, a towel on top can provide some weight, though does also increase temperature. For some reason a little bit of weight can help some children to sleep - for example with babies I find that resting my hand on their tummy helps them sleep. Doing that with a 6 year old isn't really practical, thus a bit of weight on the cover.