Help needed! Desperate

[mrsfleming32]

Hi all. Wondering if anyone can help me. I am the single mother of a six year old little girl, she has, in the last two weeks, developed some sleep problems and become very clingy and emotional. I've never had a problem with this before.
She started by half waking up and getting up in the middle of the night, and now she doesn't want to be separated from me at bedtime. She goes to sleep ok but wakes up and gets upset, telling me she loves me constantly and lots of tears. It's heartbreaking. When I ask her what's wrong she says "I just really love you and want to be near you." She has always had her own room, never slept in bed with me, and is a confident and fairly independent child, with a loving family and she sees her dad regularly. I'm so tired, last night it took an hour to settle her at 2am.
We have a good bedtime routine and I just don't know what to do.

Hi mrsfleming, didn't want to read and run but not sure I can be much help!
If that was ds (7) I think I would just try to make sure he felt safe and loved, and to reassure him. Has she mentioned anything about you dying at all? I think ds was around 6 when he started to get very upset at the thought of either dh or I dying. It was just a phase, but was horrible and he did get very upset. Rather than ask what's wrong, can you ask her if she wants to talk to you about anything, or if anything is worrying her? I find I get a better response if I phrase the question differently.
If it is a phase she's going through then I hope it passes soon. It might be worth bringing in a reward/sticker chart to encourage her to stay in bed/go to sleep straightaway, just in case it's turning into a habit. We normally 'allow' ds a couple of nights of the wobbles if something's worrying him, then tend to try to coax him out of it in a positive way if it goes on longer than that.
Hope that helps a little, and good luck!