6YO ds won't sleep

[whatsonyourplate]

DS has always been a bad sleeper. He won't go to sleep on his own and wakes multiple times in the night. If , I tuck him in and leave the room he's up again by the time I'm out the door. He says he's scared. No amount of cajoling, bribery, shouting or pleading will get him to stay in bed. He will only sleep if I get in his bed with him, he comes in our bed, or he falls asleep downstairs. Coming in our bed doesn't work for us as his little sister is still breastfeed and often ends up in our bed too. It's not a jealousy thing as he was like that before she was born.

It's impacting on the whole family as he'll even wake his older sister up in the night if he's been kicked out of our room. Does anyone have any ideas please?

My DD aged 3 went through a bout of sleep like this it lasted about 4 months. In the end we just put a mattress on our floor for her to sleep on and problem was solved. Then when we felt she was ready again we moved her bed so she could see out of her door into the corridor, and ours so we could also see out - then she felt more connected to us. She's happy to go in her own bed now. We also used indigo essence sleep easy spray which is for children who are scared to sleep on their own or suffer from over imagination or nightmares - here's the info - mydaughterwontsleep.com/2014/03/13/does-your-child-have-nightmares/
Good luck x

my 4yo ds is the same, always has been so not a new thing.

he'll happily go to sleep on his own but comes in to us around 4am and doesn't really go back to sleep and wakes us all up by fidgeting/ talking.

he's got an active brain and think he finds it hard to stay asleep when he doesn't really need to. dh had to get up with him at 5 today which is awful.

he only sleeps better when he's so horrendously tired the day before but that means having to put up with him having screaming tantrums.

he's just started school, hoping full days there will tire him out more. it is tough though, esp as dd (nearly 2) sleeps much better.

Thanks for your replies and sorry for not replying sooner. We've tried the mattress on the floor thing but he still kept popping up like some damned mearcat to check we were still there. The spray sounds like a possibility but he doesn't like the smell of lavender. And I'm afraid starting school didn't help either. Sorry to sound so negative but as he woke me at 12, 2, 2.15, 4, 6 and 6.15 last night I'm a bit grumpy.