My dd is nearly four-and-a-half and for the past three years has been quickly and efficiently settling herself to sleep at night. She has never seemed to need a massive amount of sleep (not much of a napper), and during her pre-school year generally went to sleep around 8pm (she gets up between 5am and 6.30).
Last term was her first at primary school, and she got REALLY tired towards the end of the first term, and we started putting her to bed earlier and earlier and by the end of term she was often in bed and asleep by 7pm.
Christmas holidays she was in bed around 7.30 most nights, a couple of late nights because of Christmas stuff.
Went back to school Weds before last (so, ten-ish days ago) and the first day back, that evening, she simply couldn't settle, and ended up not getting to sleep until about 10pm.
She has not been able to settle at a normal time since. The earliest she has managed to settle since then is just after 9pm.
I put it down to the stimulation of starting back at school... but surely it would have calmed down by now...?
She is extremely eager to learn at the moment (constantly reading/writing/counting) and I just wonder if she is struggling to shut down because of this?
If she could sleep later in the morning it wouldn't bother me so much, but she really can't. She is less likely to be up at 5 these days, but she is rarely, if ever, able to sleep past 6.30, no matter how late she went to bed.
Any thoughts? Should I just stop worrying and assume it will sort itself out? Or is there something I can do to help her calm down?
Thanks in advance.