Not going to sleep

[FedUpandEatingChocolate]

My (almost) 11 year old has started to find it really hard to go to sleep. It's now after 10pm most nights.

She's also gone from waking at 6am to later, but we're waking her at 7/7.30 to try and reset her body clock.

She definitely needs more sleep! We've removed screen time in the evening, try to give her a routine, but no change.

Any recommendations?

Anxiety, most likely from school. It’s ramped up her nervous system and is making it impossible for her brain to turn off. If she is sleeping her brain is still trying to stay on alert mode so she’ll wake up tired even if she sleeps all night anyway. Unless you want to do something drastic like pull her out of school you’re going to move on to an adhd diagnosis when her executive functioning packs in due to sleep issues.

What has that go to do anything with it! It is just some butterflies in the tummy before going back to school after weeks off we all had it and still get it before going to work aswell...

This has happened recently to DC2(11) too; always a decent sleeper, yet now suddenly really struggling to drop off. I did some reading around the issue the other day and it suggested that as puberty rolls out, young people's circadian rhythm alters through what is referred to as 'sleep phase delay'. It's hormonal and a regular part of growing up (much like becoming dry at night -in most cases, it occurs naturally). Hearing this made DC2 relax instantly and, as as result, enabled her to drop off much earlier again.
@Happyinarcon that's a fairly accurate description of DC1 who is autistic, but sleep issues don't cause neurodivergence -you're being facetious, I guess.

My recommendations woukd he trying a weighted blanket, seeing if you can get them to do some exercise like running, yoga or HIIT and using something like Sleepy from LUSH. Do they read? I find that reading helps me to drift off.

Do you think it's anxiety or do you think it's just normal hormonal changes?

Thanks for the responses.

We've got no reason to think she's autistic, and she loves school. She's got a good friendship group and finds the work quite easy.

We used to try a weighted blanket, but she didn't get on with it. We can try again.

I'll have that convo with her about hormones and sleep. She definitely does settle better when she's read for a bit.

I don't think it's anxiety, as that presents differently for her - she feels sick.

It was also like this over the Christmas break, which was very relaxing!