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Sleep

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Original poster

Overtiredness in 5.5 yr old - could Phenergen help ?

64 replies

Norah · 19/05/2006 17:36

My dd seems to be extremely overtired at the moment - but nothing I do seems to make her sleep any longer ! Lie-ins are unheard of in our house !

She is 5.5 - and goes to bed at 7pm each night - she wakes at 5.30 every day and will not go back to sleep ! I have tried keeping her up later - but she becomes very stroppy - just too tired !

We have blackout blinds etc - and the house is very quiet - nothing apart from her own body clock is waking her up from what I can tell !

She no longer falls asleep in the car - so we can't even resort to driving her around !

So - I don't know what to do !

I know she needs to have a really good long sleep - but how can I get her to have one ?

A neighbour has suggested giving her Phenergan to "break the cycle" - has anyone tried this ?

OP posts:

BeetrootOldDeer · 22/05/2006 14:49

I woudl really really not use medicine. It will make no difference to early morning waking which is the problem here.

Just put her to bed earlier and at least she wil get enough sleep.

BeetrootOldDeer · 22/05/2006 14:50

sorry not sure why you would give her medsed. You are the one keeping her up later adn thus making her tired.

Original poster

Norah · 22/05/2006 18:08

No beetroot - I'm not keeping her up later - she won't go to sleep ! I didn't wake her up last night and cause her to have a tantrum - I was asleep.

Not sure why you are wanting to blame this on me - I was looking for some advice not criticism.

OP posts:

sparklemagic · 22/05/2006 18:43

Norah, sorry to hear you're having troubles. My view on this would be not to keep her up later in the hope it will make her wake later, it won't happen! I would put her to bed earlier.

Aim to have her asleep by sixish each night, then if she sleeps through till 5.30am she is getting nearly 12 hours. This is what we do with our 3.5 yr old DS as he has ALWAYS woken very early.

Maybe speak to your GP and get advice on what the recommended amount of sleep is for a 5 year old, because if as you said in your first post she is asleep at 7pm and up at 5.30am, that actually doesn't sound too bad to me, that's then and a half hours. It might be enough!

sparklemagic · 22/05/2006 18:44

TEN and a half hours sorry not THEN and a half!

BeetrootOldDeer · 22/05/2006 22:42

Norah, i was not blaming you. I just feel it is wrong to give a child medsed in order to make her asleep for longer. I think that by putting her to bed earlier, she will get the required sleep she needs even though she may well still wake at 530.

Mercy · 22/05/2006 22:54

Norah, I have a bottle of Phenergan downstairs, I have used it for travel sickness which my 5 year old dd has recently developed. Have only used it once. I will go and look at the instructions for you.

TambaTheDragonSlayer · 22/05/2006 23:02

My ds is 4 and when he wakes up early he just goes down and puts cbeebies on and wakes me up when he wants breakfast

Mercy · 22/05/2006 23:03

OK, it says

"As short term sedative.

Children 2-5 years: Three to four 5ml spoonfuls as a single night time dose"

It might be worth trying for a couple of nights (possibly at the weekend rather than a school day). I do know what you mean about over-tired 5 year olds. My dd just will not accept she is tired, she is such a bundle of energy and ends up being very run down.

Is your dd a good eater?

sallystrawberry · 22/05/2006 23:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TheMammy · 22/05/2006 23:22

why do you want to drug your child to go to sleep? I really really can't see how that is a goog longterm solution? Not criticising by the way, just struggling to understand what happens when you stop drugging her to go to sleep?

carol3 · 22/05/2006 23:32

Hi Norah i use phenergan for my two year old. The gp prescribed it as her sleep was really bad a year ago because of iching her excema . I still use it every now and then when she has a flare up and shes sleeps like a log ! When the gp first gave it her she had it for two weeks starting on a high dose and gradually reducing it which worked brilliantly and really broke the cycle. It might be worth asking the gp.

Mercy · 22/05/2006 23:32

I can't see how it's different to adults taking a short-term course of sleeping tablets.

Mercy · 22/05/2006 23:35

It can now be bought over the counter but Carols idea is a good one re seeing your gp first. My db also had Phenergan for his eczema as a child

MeAndMyBoy · 23/05/2006 09:11

How did you do last night? Norah was up at 5 myself this morning and was thinking about you.

H x

alison222 · 23/05/2006 09:50

just seen this thread and am watching with interest to see what you do. my Ds is exactly the same - although waking at 6. He knows its not time to get up, ignores the night light beign on which means it is still night-time and wakes his sister.
He is overtired but i can't find a way of just getting him to catch up for a day or two.

peaches27 · 23/05/2006 09:52

I have been looking for the colour zone clock (not the bunny one). Where did I see it and where did you get it from? I have done a search but only got this thread!

MeAndMyBoy · 23/05/2006 10:24

Just remembered that I'd seen this - probably no help what so ever but thought I'd put it up here anyway.

It's a DIY clock you stick the numbers to the wall - you could just stick the time that you want on the wall so 12 and 7 and tell the kids when the hands get to the numbers it's time to get up. I just like the idea :)

\link{http://www.crazyaboutgadgets.com/detail.asp?ID=76\diy clock}

PinkKerPlink · 23/05/2006 10:26

melatonin is good. You can buy it off ebay. Sainsburys also do a night time milk which contains melatonin

MeAndMyBoy · 23/05/2006 10:29

PKP I've seen the night time milk in Tesco too :). do you use it? Do you think it's helpful?

rabbitrabbit · 23/05/2006 10:35

Ok, I know this may sound incredibly strange but I had on and off problems with my DS (3) sleeping-early waking, taking ages to settle, over tired, constant waking and tantrums etc.
A chiropractor (he has to has regular treatment) told me that he was lacking in protein and when I upped the protein (gave some in every meal) he settled within 24 hrs.
HTH

PinkKerPlink · 23/05/2006 10:36

my daughter gets a prescription of melatonin but I have on occassion used the night time milk when i have run out and it has worked:)

foxinsocks · 23/05/2006 10:49

I agree that the medicine will probably help knock her out but won't do much for her early waking. It may make her sleep later but even if it does, she'll wake up feeling tired (that's what these antihistamines make you feel like).

Where it's been prescribed for eczema, that's a totally different thing because yes it does help the sleep but it also helps by stopping the itching (or making it itch less).

She's old enough to be told to stay in bed till a certain time. Even if she's awake, if she would lie in bed till 6.30 or 7, she'd probably feel better. I normally wouldn't suggest putting a child to bed later but if she really only needs 10 a half hours, it might be worth trying to say let her read in bed from 7-7.30 and then turning the light out to see what happens.

However, I have to agree, if you want a quickfix long sleep, then putting her to bed earlier will probably give her a longer spell (though not sure this would help in the long term).

Bugsy2 · 23/05/2006 10:55

My ds has always woken early & still does. (He is 6.5yrs old now).
Over the years I have found that keeping him up later does not help, as his body clock is stubbornly set for a wake up time somewhere between 5.30 & 6.30am. The more overtired he gets, bizarely, the earlier he will wake up. So, I try to get him to bed every night before 7.30pm & if he is tantruming & horrible, it may even be an hour earlier.
Over the years, I have used different tactics to deal with the morning wake up time. Generally speaking, I accompany him downstairs, put tv on, get him milk & a bit of breakfast & leave him to it, until the rest of us wake up at a more respectable hour.
I have recently bought him a clock which is lit up so that he can see it clearly & have told him that he must go back to sleep until 6.30am. I have had some success with this & he has at least stayed in bed until this time most mornings.

Original poster

Norah · 23/05/2006 12:25

Hi everyone !

Can I just say - it isn't the early waking that bothers me - that isn't what I am trying to sort out here !

The issue is that she is getting more and more overtired - and so the tantrums have increased and she is really grumpy and emotional all the time. Reasoning doesn't work and she does not accept that she needs to go to bed early or stay in bed longer - she is pretty irrational because of the tiredness and so I was looking for a very SHORT TERM FIX to get her back on track !

OK - last night she was in bed asleep after a long bath, and 10 ml of Medised at 7pm. There were no tantrums and she slept until 4am - when she arrived in our bed saying a crocodile had woken her up - BUT she went straight back to sleep until dh got up at 6.30.

She was in a much better mood today and couldn't wait to stick her stars on her new star-chart.

I think I have partial success !!

Also feel I ought to say that I don't WANT to drug my child to sleep - but in this case she isn't sensible enough to know what is good for her - so I am being the adult and helping her ! This is the second time in her life she has ever had Medised - and it isn't something I expect to repeat !

OP posts:

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