HELP - 5yo won’t sleep

[ThisFunHedgehog]

I’m writing this post in sheer desperation. I’m at my wits end and don’t know what to do.

We have two DC, 5yo and 8mo. Our 5yo is a terrible sleeper. She will only fall asleep with a parent in the room. She wakes up constantly and will not stay in her bed. She will only fall back asleep with one of us in the room. So far I have been in her room for 4 hours, waiting for her to fall asleep, creep out the room for her to wake up again. She screams the house down, it is unbearable for myself and my DH. This then wakes up 8mo DC too who then wants breastfeeding back to sleep.

I have tried to set a strict bedtime routine. No screen/tv. We have bathtime and toilet. Pick pj’s. Read a story together. Night light on. Sit in the room until she falls asleep. She will be asleep for a few hours before waking and then it’s constant waking, getting out of bed all night long. She will try to get in our bed but we persist and put her back in her own room. DC says she can’t sleep or she is scared. We have talked through her worries with her and tried to put her at ease to make her feel less anxious. We’re stuck in this viscous cycle. This is impacting our relationship. We’re exhausted.

I have every sympathy as my DD was like this too. Has she always been like this or is it a more recent thing?

Will she fall asleep to an audio story instead? Like a yoto or tonies box? X

Thank you. When did your DD’s sleep improve ? She used to be a brilliant sleeper but things deteriorated when she was 3 when we got covid. Because I wasn’t well, we stupidly move the cot into our room, so it was easier for me to tend to her if she woke up as it seemed to have disturbed her sleep. Also when we transitioned from cot to a big bed we had a period of co- sleeping because she fell out of her new bed on a few occasions and this understandably scared her. We were exhausted so let the co-sleeping go on far too long. We have made progress and for over a year she has fell asleep in her own bed . We are in the middle of moving house which is a big change (moving date next Monday). She’s also had a new sibling and hasn’t adjusted to this very well either. Most recently our smoke alarm went off randomly a few nights ago at 2am and this woke and scared us all.

I haven’t tried this, we have tried white noise and it worked well for a time. However, after a while to she tried to find the iPad we were using to play on. I will look into these options thank you.

Honestly I don't see why you don't just let her cosleep. Yes loads of people say it doesn't work for some families yadayada but trying to get her to sleep alone is also not working. You can't go on like this. Buy a bigger bed if you need it. Honestly it really does make me quesy when I read some of the battles people have on here about bedtimes. Just accept it as part of being a parent she won't be doing it when she's a teenager so just give her what she needs now.