10 year old struggles to sleep on school nights

[Handofglory]

Dd (10) has never been a great sleeper from birth. She still comes into our bed during the night approximately once a week (I don’t mind-we have a big bed and it doesn’t disturb us)
Main issue is the time it takes her to settle to sleep-she’s just dropped off now after a long cuddle but yesterday it was after 10 when she finally went to sleep.

She’s not allowed on screens after 7, has a bath or shower, reads or draws until 8.30 and is then supposed to settle down but she very rarely can. She’s then a nightmare to get up in time for school in the morning.

Strangely during the Easter holidays she was asleep before 9 most nights so I think it must be partly to do with school. She’s happy at school but maybe just a lot to process?

Any tips? I really didn’t think I’d still be cuddling her to sleep at this age! (I don’t do it every night obv but I really wanted her to get more sleep tonight!)

What time does she have to get up for school? Sometimes it's better to have a later bedtime if they're struggling to sleep early. DD is 9 (year 4) and goes to bed between 9-9.30pm and is up at 7.15am. She just wouldn't sleep if she was in bed earlier.

My dd is 10 & struggles to get to sleep but about a year ago we just decided to let it go & stop worrying about it.

She used to still be awake at 10-11pm & would get very tearful about it. Now she goes to bed at about 8.30pm & is allowed to read as long as she wants & can have an audiobook on if she wants. Only condition is that she stays in her bed & doesn't get up & play.

She's normally asleep by 9.30-10pm which is still late but she manages to get up at 7.30am for school & is performing well there.

The more anxious she got the worse she slept. I never sleep well (verging on insomnia) Sunday nights especially after any school holidays as I'm thinking about the alarm clock!

Is she getting any exercise after school? Could it be that she is doing more active stuff on holidays giving her a better sleep.

On my work days (2 or 3 days a week) we need to leave by 8 so I like her to be up by 7. Other days she can lie in until 7.45

I do try to keep her active after school but she probably doesn’t get as much fresh air as she did in holidays.

The times I’ve left her to read/listen to audio book she’s still going at gone 11!

Definitely on the days she gets up at 7.45am
I would try a later bedtime for a few days. Let her get more tired and see if she falls asleep quicker. Do you have proper blackout blinds in her room. With the lighter nights you'll really need them as it's even harder to sleep when it's still light.

I would keep her wake up times the same every day and encourage her to bed earlier. Sometimes it’s better for children to have the same routine every day, including weekends.

I would also remove screens or other tech well before 7pm as it can mess with sleep a couple of hours before sleeping. Maybe stop at 5pm?

Try it for a couple of weeks andsee what happens.

It could be the light I guess. She does fall asleep quicker when it’s fully dark.
Will try no screens earlier but sometimes she’s not in from school until half 5 and it works for her and brother to have some screen/chill time while I make dinner otherwise everyone’s fractious!
Weekends she tends to get up early! Go figure?!

Could it be the tv instead of a tablet etc?

Mine are fractious of an evening but restricting screens means they are used to not having them. It’s kind of a hump to get over, but screens really are bad for sleep.

Just to add that when we first started letting dd read for as long as she wanted she was awake until 11-11.30pm every night but slowly over a few weeks/months it became earlier.

At least this way she wasn't so stressed.