Hi, my 8 ye old DS who has always been a great sleeper (apart from the 6am mornings regardless of bedtime)
Anyway the last couple of weeks he’s been increasingly anxious about waking in the night and not going back to sleep, he’s waking around 12 and getting very upset that he isn’t asleep, coming in with us, lying there for hours tossing and turning. He won’t stay in his own bed - we’ve tried making him but he out for us and cries, it’s so upsetting. He can’t r explain why he’s so upset but just says he feels he needs to be with mummy.
We have tried taking his clock away from him as he was getting anxious about the time, we’ve tried a sleep aromatherapy oil, he has a cuddly, but I’m so worried that it’s becoming ingrained now and I can’t go back to those sleepless nights (I have a 5 and 2 year old too and both were horrendous sleepers until toddlerhood)
He is so exhausted that he falls asleep no problem at 7.30/8 ish although has even started getting anxious before bed about the prospect of waking up. He is awake at 6 am regardless of all of this and is consequently utterly shattered and we are all getting miserable because of it. He is incapable of a lie in and always has been. My instinct is to let him sleep with me so he has nothing to feel anxious about, but we are getting such bad quality sleep and even he says he’d prefer to be able to sleep in his bed, he just can’t. I suffer from anxiety and I’m SO worried I’ve just passed It down to him. Rational me thinks it’s probably just a phase over Christ as - so much on his mind, more sugar, less exercise - but I’m so worried.
Anyone experienced this?
Thabns