Mumsnetters aren't necessarily qualified to help if your child is unwell. If you need professional help, please contact your GP or local mental health support services.
Mumsnetters aren't necessarily qualified to help if your child is unwell. If you need professional help, please contact your GP or local mental health support services.
Child mental health
DD 14 can't sleep
sharonruth1982 · 16/07/2020 06:02
As of recent, DD (14) due to a messed up sleep schedule because of quarantine keeps going to sleep at around 9-11 in the morning and waking up in the afternoon/early evening. She tells me she just can't sleep, even though she pretty much fixed her sleep schedule the other day but just couldn't sleep, but I have no idea why.
She's been extremely tired during the day, even when she had gotten enough sleep the night before, and has been so tired that she's been napping during the afternoon, something she's been having to do since around May.
I'm not sure what to do, since it's not like she can just fall asleep or that I can make her fall asleep. She's had difficulty falling asleep since she was 10, but it seems like quarantine's made it worse. She also can't sleep without a podcast/YouTube video playing and hasn't been able to since she was around 7, partially due to the light from her laptop helping her with her fear of the dark and she says it just generally helps her sleep.
She's a bright girl with a good work ethic, but her lack of sleep and messed up sleep schedule is making her lazier with most things than usual. She's stopped exercising every day, she doesn't do the washing up (even though she gets paid for doing it) and she's a little spacier than usual because of her lack of energy. She's also been over-eating (though despite being overweight she's only gained around 7 pounds throughout all of quarantine) too, but I'm not sure if it's a disorder or not. I think that it could possibly be her eating-habits are affecting her sleep schedule.
Any advice on what to do/why she's unable to sleep?
lukasiak · 16/07/2020 06:10
It's a very strange phenomenon, but sitting on your ass and doing nothing all day is physically exhausting. Don't ask me why, I don't know, but it's true. Being lazy makes you more tired. It's actually a huge hurdle with long term unemployment. Also, if she's not sleeping at night or having early morning wakings, she will get tired at some point between 8-12 from a natural seratonim surge.
Try and get her up and moving. It might fix itself.
Stuffofawesome · 16/07/2020 06:15
Epsom salts warm bath before bed can help as magnesium is absorbed. Can buy massive tubs on amazon. Or magnesium supplement. Moving more should help. Getting daylight on the face in the morning to help set circadian rhythms
There's a sleep programme called sleepio that is science based and used by sleep specialists
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