x posted
DS1 is 7.5 - bright and sensitive. He's never been big on sleep and doesn't seem to need much, but his inability to get off to sleep is really beginning to wear us down.
He goes to bed 8.30/9pm. If DH and I go quietly to the study on our PCs and don't move for 30-45 mins, and if his brothers are already asleep, all is often well. But if we change this at all (i.e I had a very rare bath and read a book quietly in the bath - plus his brother started sleep talking loudly), then he can be still awake at 10 or 11 o'clock. The problem is that we end up getting to bed late if we sit in the study and wait for him to go to sleep until 11pm, then we get up late so he can sleep, and the whole day starts off disastrously.
Additionally, DH is away a lot and I just can't afford the time to sit around waiting for him to sleep - I have too much to do & can't cope with the 1 or 2am bedtimes I have been having recently. Even the slightest noise will keep him awake.
I'm also wondering if we are doing him a disservice by being so quiet. Once he's away from home he will have to learn to sleep through noise (we live in a very quiet road with no traffic at all). I wonder if I should be getting him to go to sleep through noise now, or whether that comes later.
Can anyone help please?