what should i do with a 7 year old who won't go to sleep

[DuplicitousBitch]

i have tried lots and lots of exercise, threats, bribes, consistency non consistency. can i slip her a micky in her bed time milk?

it is not unusual for her still to be up at 11

tell me about it, my dd is the same

goes to bed at 8pm and can still be awake gone 11

i feel your pain foosa

she does appear to cope fine the next day but is awful to get up for school.

oh and frequently she gets up in the wee hours to come into bed with me.

get her up earlier. dd1 is a bit like this. up earlier seems to help

i am too lazy! we get up a 7.30

same here with our DD... she seems to go through phases, maybe because she is ill she is going to sleep ok the alst few nights... nothing seems to work, I worry when she's awake past 10 after being put to bed at 7:30... sorry no advice though... people seem to think that only babies and toddlers have sleep problems but not true!

I get this with 7-year-old DS. 'I can't get to sleep'. Still awake at 10.30 last night, nightmare to get up this morning!

I also find mornings hard .

The only thing I've found helps is hardcore exercise .

She sleeps on Sundays after gym/swimming/posing in the park - but that's not achievable on a school day!

A clock makes it less confrontational. she knows when she's up too late, at least.

On the p,us side, her reading is fantastic, with those extra hours of practice

My DS is similar, he just doesn't seem to need to sleep as much as the rest of us. Very often I can go up to bed at 10.30 and he's still awake. He knows he's not allowed to go out of his bedroom so he stays in bed playing with his teddies. Doesn't seem to affect him the next day either so I don't worry too much.

even the hardcore exercise doesn't make a huge difference. on mondays she spends 30 doing lengths at swimming and is the same. i am worried i have a potential thatcher.

nice to know i am not alone. other parents are all 'oh so and so gets so tired at school they are asleep by 6' or 'oh so and so was up so late they didn't got to bed until 8' bah!

My DS was like this at 7 and still is at 10.

Does your DD have trouble getting up in the morning as a result? It might be that she just doesn't need a lot of sleep. I have to get my DS up but I usually only have to call once, twice at the most and he is up so he obviously doesn't need much sleep.

He has always been in bed by 8.45 and after reading to him we leave him to read by himself for a bit. Then we tell him to turn the light out and try and sleep. He isn't allowed out of his room except for the toilet, he isn't allowed to bother us (except in emergencies obviously) and he certainly isn't allowed downstairs. We just leave him to get on with it because the more we pop up to check, the longer he stays awake. He has nothing with a screen in his room either - the only thing to look at is books.

We have also had some success with relaxation CDs. He will listen to those for a while and sometimes they make him sleep, sometimes they don't. He is at least resting. Something like this. There are quite a few on Amazon.

It is hard but after several years of this none of us are overly bothered by it now and of course as he has got older it is less of an issue. He is how he is and trying to force him to sleep is a bit counterproductive. It is hard though, when you hear of children of the same age going to bed at 7.30 or 8pm and you wonder if you are doing the right thing but I don't see there is any point turning it into a battle ground as it just doesn't work.

The other thing which has helped a friend of mine whose daughter used to want to chat and quite often started fretting about things at bedtime is to give your DD a diary. My friends listens to her DDs concerns but if she finds they are going over old ground and there is nothing they can do about it, she gets her DD to write in a diary rather than everybody losing an evening. It seems to work. Her DD is maybe 7 is a little young for this unless she enjoys writing.

sometimes she lolls about on teh sofa looking sleepy but teh minute she has her pjs on she is literally doing cartwheels round the house

thanks niecie, i do think that is the case

posing?!?! Damn predictive text. I meant playing.

Poor Dd - being accused of 'posing' in the park!

arf @ posing.

it is lovely to hear all this because i was starting to blame myself

riven when is your dd 7?

Sorry my last post was a bit long - it has been a bit of an issue for us as you can tell!

Getting them up early doesn't help, I've found. If you aren't a morning person then you just end up tired and grumpy. DS doesn't go to sleep any earlier as a result when we've tried it. If anything when he has to get up earlier and knows it, he finds it even harder to go to sleep!

dd is tomorrow and is having pals over after school, i am opting out of the party scene!

are your non sleepers also skinny? that is i my other great worry. she is ridiculously thin

i am kidding myself that is just a really big playdate

riven that is hard.