My 9-year-old DD can't sleep - help needed!

[loobs2]

Our daughter has always been fine at bedtime - up until a few weeks ago. She gets ready for bed at 7p.m., watches TV till 9 then goes to bed and reads till she feels tired. But she has developed these rituals/compulsive behaviours - she has to get up and move things 'to the right place' in her room, she has to look out of her window, she straightens her slippers - stuff like that. She finds it very upsetting as she says she is tired and desperately wants to sleep - but can't. Last night she came into our room at nearly midnight in tears, and this is really worrying me now. Can anyone help?

I would just like to reassure you. When I was about 9 I remember very clearly having to get out of bed several times to put things in the correct place in my room before I could settle to sleep. I also had trouble for a while getting to sleep. I would not worry, it is probably a phase. I am now a perfectly sane nearly 43 year old :-)

my dd is now 11 and can't sleep, she is too piggin untidy to move her stuff about BUT she has a constantly changing range of twitches/habits and tics. CUrrently we have the "coi" where she kind of gapes her mouth open like a fish accompanied by a single bark cough. 2 weeks ago it was a frown and mouth like Benny Hill.
Unfortunately it's incredibly common for them to go thru this from the age of 9 - some form of obsessive compulsive behaviour or twitch so you arent alone
Horrible though - look it up on the nhs direct web site

My DD won't go to sleep, end of. There appears to be no logical reason for it other than her being stubborn, she's almost 9. We have the full range of excuses - I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, I want to stay with you.

I am truly at the end of my tether. I have placed a ban on all treats for two weeks and that has had little impact.

Can anyone suggest a different way of tackling it ?

Just to add, she will go to bed and sleep far better for my babysitter than she does with me. ( I'm a single parent . I do have a partner who's moving in with me but not for a couple of months yet.)

loobs2 - why don't you suggest to your daughter that she arranges everything perfectly after she has got ready for bed and before watching TV? Probably just a phase. I have 2 DD's aged 9 - one likes everything arranged perfectly, the other would prefer things on the floor.

LauraMum - kids always behave far better for babysitters/Grandparents/teachers than they do for parents. It's just the way it is. Mine were exactly the same as your DD, but now before they go upstairs I make sure they are not hungry/thirsty etc and I get them to agree that they are not. Also we have a rule that once they have brushed their teeth, they get nothing until breakfast. When the constant reappearing at night got really bad, they were docked pocket money for every time they appeared and also were not allowed friends round after school (due to their lack of sleep making them too tired to play nicely!) That seemed to do the trick.