Anxiety in 11 year old- please help !!

[Anxiety1234]

My just turned 11 year old has becoming incredibly anxious over the past year .
It started when someone vomited near her and she then developed a phobia of being sick .
It came on slowly but has ramped up over the past few months and then again over the past few weeks .

She is now not sleeping until after midnight and waking up multiple times per night worried that she might be sick and miss out on whatever upcoming activities.

No problems with school / friendships . She is in great form when with friends and during the day . As soon as she’s in bed it starts up again .

Ive told her to read until feeling sleepy, she listens to her sisters Toni after reading .
Ive talked through if she is sick that it’s fine , she will be sick , get over it and then back to normal . She says she knows this but still can’t help worrying .

She has also become extremely emotional and having only what I can describe as a two year old tantrum if she doesn’t get her way .
I’m thinking some kind of hormone surge although no other signs of puberty.

She plays sport 2/3 times a week and attends drama though she is kicking up a fuss before the sport which she never did before.

She has her iPad only over the weekend , only has iMessage which I check and utube .

What can I do to help ? We are all exhausted with it , I don’t know how to help her .
I was going to book her in to gp to maybe get referred to counseling?

sorry it’s long !

Talk to Therese Langford of https://www.facebook.com/calmmindhypnotherapy - she specialises in anxiety in children and does amazing work.

@Eyesopenwideawake thanks , il have a look

Have a look at what support is available to her, and you.

anxiety is a massive topic childline provide counselling for. She could phone, email or instant message. There's also a lot of resources on their website, avoid the message boards.

I see that she likes the Tony, we have the yoto and love the night radio. has she considered some mindfulness / deep sleep audio / grounding techniques when she wakes in the night?

Sometimes having a mini-routine when she wakes in the night is helpful. Make sure she knows that's it's ok to wake up, have a drink of water, set the next audio running and then do some breathing exercises or grounding.

For me there's nothing worse than stressing about not getting enough sleep when I'm already stressed about something else which is waking me up.

You're doing so well in looking for help, the recent episode of "all in the mind" on radio 4 was all about girls mental health and it's a really interesting listen.

Does your employer offer an EAP service? I'd start some counselling for yourself and see if the EAP offering extends to your kids - it might!

@itchyhand thanks for the advice . I haven’t tried any grounding techniques but will definitely try some with her .
I know , I’m the same with stressing about sleep so I do understand but I just feel she’s so young to have all these feelings of worry !