5yo taking ages to get to sleep

[ICompletelyKnowAboutGuineaPigs]

My 5yo DS is driving me crazy! He is really good at going to bed and we read a story and do lights out. Then about 15 minutes later we hear thump thump thump from his bedroom. We go into him and explain that it's bedtime and he needs to sleep but it doesn't seem to make any difference. It's taking him ages to get to sleep and then he's tired in the morning when it's time to get up for school.

Any suggestions? I know it's impossible to MAKE someone sleep but would like to encourage as much as possible!

Oh we have that problem too. my DS aged 5 and 3 days has never needed much sleep and now he's at school he's got worse. 9.45 pm in bed tonight and he'll be up again at 630 am again as fresh as a daisy... No solutions just sharing in your pain. But if anyone out there has any suggestions I'd love to see them.

Is he tired? Does he have enough exercise? Is he possibly hungry, thirsty, too hot or too cold? Does he need a nightlight or for it to be darker? Might he med to read by himself for 10 minutes to wind down? Have you tried music or a story tape

Just not tired! He gets loads of exercise although less now he's at school. I'll try the music/story tape idea, thats something I've not tried. Thanks.

We've tried a meditation for children CD and classical music CD but he just lies awake to listen to them and gets up to put them back on (somewhat defeats the object methinks)! The exercise thing could be worth following up on.

Since he's started school he does get less exercise than he used to - maybe we'll try the park after school tonight and see if that makes a difference. Thanks.

guineapigs - did exercise help?

I feel your pain. My two aged 6 and 7 take ages to go to sleep no matter what time I put them to bed. On average they take an hour, at best 30 minutes and at worst around 90 minutes! Aargh. It drives me mad, just go to sleep. If you put me in a bed in a darkened room theres no way I could stay awke for that long!

TBH it doesn't even have to be dark for me - I just need to be vaguely horizontal! I am of course talking about sleep!

Exercise did help (I think). I only had to go in once to him and I was stern(ish) which seemed to do the trick. I am definitely going to carry on with some organised exercise after school and see if it makes a difference over the coming week. If it doesn't 'cure' the problem it may at least stack the odds in my favour.

If you find anything else that helps then let me know - all contributions welcome. And good luck.