Anyone else got an insomniac 6 year old ?

[scatterbrain]

My 6 yr old just doesn't seem able to sleep through the night anymore ! She goes to bed exhasuted by 7.30pm - I've tried keeping her up later but she gets quickly irrational and stroppy - so she obviously needs to go to bed then. She is invariably deeply asleep by 8pm.

When I go up - very very quietly - at about 10.30pm she sits up and starts talking to me. I go in, kiss her and tell her to go back to sleep - and she lies down again. Dh comes to bed about 2 hours later and she'll be up again demanding a kiss from him.

Then throughout the night she comes into our room about once every two or maybe three hours to ask if it's nearly morning yet !

It's driving us absolutely mad !

Anyone else experienced it - or maybe got a solution !!! It's like having a newborn again and we are knackered !

Also I think it's affecting behaviour in the day as she is extremely stroppy at the moment !

my dd3 was like this she would just wake up in the middle of the night asking for a drink
or wanting her breakfast
we started making sure she had supper (cereal or toast) and a warm drink before bed. We also put the thick blinds in her room was a big probem as she was waking her little sister too.
I am sorry no real answers but she is 6 and sleeps through most nights on her own now.
xx

It's such a nightmare - she won't have her door closed and dh doesn't like ours closed - so it's free season all night - she's in and out literally 4 times a night - last night she was asking questions about dinosuars at 2am and 4am !

She has blackout blinds and curtains - and a clock and can tell the time - so she knows she shouldn't be doing it - but still she does it.

Maybe I should take her to the doctors - what do you think ?

at 6 she can be told EXACTLY what is expected o her eg. not to come out of hber room except for the toilet and then punishher if she does
she'll soon stop it

I would try the snack before bedtime first. Also if she knows she shouldn't be doing it but is being allowed to continue, what message is this giving her? If there is no valid reason then I would look towards a reward system for her staying in her own room all night, building up to a treat at the end of it, after collecting so many stickers, for example.

she probably has always woken up now she knows she can get up too, it is behavioural i think

you need to try something to stop her waking you up

Yes I agree that's it's behavoural - but we've tried a few things - stickers, removing privileges (she had to miss her friends party last week because of it - I said that I had to have two uninterrupted nights or she wouldn't go - so she woke dh and whispered instead !). She gets told off firmly every time !

She does know for definite !

dh has given her Nurofen tonight as he thinks her teeth are bothering her - two top ones breaking through - and he thinks the pain is waking her. She says she is waking up too hot - so I've taken a load of toys out of her bed tonight as well !

Fingers crossed !

Thanks for your thoughts !

No real experience as mine aren't this age yet, but sympathies - would it be worth a reward chart with small priveledges along the way and then building to a specific treat after two weeks if she manages to accumulate enough 'points' - they say it takes two weeks to establish a new habit, so worth keeping at it (sure you have though) just being really positive about success and not banging on about bad nights which might reinforce any anxiety she has that she can't do it well. Also, what about the low stimulus approach - just gently leading her back to bed, no eye contact, no talking, every time. It might really upset her at first, but if you're both consistent then it becomes not worth getting up?