5yo dd won't settle to sleep

[longestlurkerever]

DD1 (5, rising 6) has been a good sleeper for several years now for the past couple of months she's been really hard to settle. She stays awake till 9 or 9:30 and keeps appearing downstairs with extra requests/complaints etc. Last night it was nearly 10 before she actually settled down properly to sleep. I've tried putting her to bed earlier/later/letting her go out for a run about before bed/making her stay in and play quietly and it doesn't seem to make a difference. She's clearly tired and needs more sleep though, and I want my peaceful evenings back. Any tips? Am thinking we might need a wind down routine but I'm not sure what to add in. We already have bath (most nights) and stories.

How is her diet and what time does she have dinner? Also, is she having any caffeinated beverages?

Oh thanks for your reply - I'd given up on this thread! No caffeine - she doesn't like fizzy drinks. Her diet could be better I suppose. She's quite fussy. She complains about pains in her legs sometimes (last night in particular) - and I wondered whether that could be linked to a deficiency of some sort.

She could be going through a growth spurt. I had pain in my legs in frequent intervals when I was a kid, and my mother told me my sleep patterns would be erratic when I had growth spurts. I'm 6 feet tall and was always tall for my age, so I had lots of growth spurts. Maybe this is what your daughter is going through. Are her shoes getting tight?

Yes that makes sense. Dd2's sleep goes weird when she's going through a spurt of some sort and i suppose it could be the same when they are bigger

Yes that makes sense. Dd2's sleep goes weird when she's going through a spurt of some sort and i suppose it could be the same when they are bigger. I'm quite tall - she's pretty average height

Not much to add but I used to get growing pains in my legs as a child, remember the awful pan still! My dad used to give me a leg massage before bed, maybe that's something you could add into the bedtime routine? Maybe something coconut based with lavender to aid sleep as well.

Thanks Redsky, that's a good idea - she'd go for that I think.