A 7 year old who cannot sleep all night in her bed. Advice required.

[lifeisgoodwithsleep]

Not wanting to depress others but need help as this has been going on for years and years - my dd1 of 7 is rubbish at sleeping. She does go to sleep (eventually- takes a while to get all the wriggles out of her system) but wakes up several times a night and settles back down if cuddled (rapid returns have slowed with lack of sleep) I have no idea how she functions as I can barely with so little sleep.Neither me or dh get back to sleep with all these nocturnal wanderings. I have done charts, a sleep shop (she had to price various items costing 1 or 2 sleeps in her bed and earn them) but apart from the odd night every now and then (meaning twice a month) nothing breaks this pattern.Any ideas?

You poor thing, I thought I had it bad as DS was 5 when he started sleeping through.

One article I saw on sleep on This Morning of all things said that if the children always end up in your bed, put them to bed in your bed and they will get out and go to their own room. The parents were very scepitcal but it worked.

The only other things I can suggest are asking your HV if there is a local sleep clinic. These are usually run by HVs and are free.

Alternatively you could always get her to listen to this

I loved your link! Will try the putting her to bed in our bed. Another thing I am wondering about is just getting a camp bed in our room and she can just go and sleep there- without disturbing us. Might take the pressure off her to sleep all night in her bed and hopefully she will just go straight into that bed and not wake us up...... maybe too hopeful for the last part.....

I can totally sympathise - my DS is nearly 4 and exactly the same. He is up 3 or 4 times a night and no matter what I try he can't seem to sleep through. I have just given up on getting a good night's sleep and it's the hardest habit to try and break because you are always too knackered to try any new routines. The No Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers has some good advice (even though your LO is older) and one of the things they suggest is exactly what you have said - just accept that it is going to happen and put up a camp bed in your room for them to go straight into without waking you up. I am currently trying their bounce back routine, where you take them back to their bed no matter how many times it takes and be very boring, just saying 'shhh' etc, but I was up 3 times last night and my DS then woke for the day at 5am. And that's not unusual for us - and I have to work 4 days a week! Caffeine essential :( good luck. I don't know what works, but I keep on trying.