7 yr old settling too late and waking too early

[Chocolateyclaire76]

My 7 yr old daughter doesn’t fall asleep until about 9.30pm...and that’s after starting bedtime routine with protests at 7.30. She always has a shower, I read her a story and then I allow her 10 mins to do some colouring etc before lights out. She then spends nearly an hour banging around, tossing and turning, getting up, chatting to herself etc... We’ve tried relaxation music but it doesn’t do anything. She just says she doesn’t like going to sleep. I wouldn’t mind if she had a lie in but she’s up at 6-6.30 and she’s bouncing around the house!

I know she needs more sleep as we have grumpy meltdowns but I can’t force her to sleep - help!

I can’t force her to sleep

You can't. But you can set some rules and insist that she follows them.

Tossing and turning in bed is one thing. But you also mention getting up and chatting to herself - these are not conducive to healthy wind-down to sleep.

I would set so.e really clear rules around bedtime:

● At bedtime we lie down in bed.
● At bedtime we stay quiet.
● At bedtime we keep still.

Set these behaviour expectations with her. Then have a mantra you repeat that encompasses what you expect of her:

" It is bedtime now. We lie still and quietly in bed at bedtime. Nan night"

Then be broken record about it. Stay at the doorway and watch like a hawk. Respond every time she goes for sitting up, getting up, making noise, moving around too much. Basically you expect her to lie still and quiet in bed. If she doesn't go to sleep that's up to her. But she cannot do anything other than lying down still and quiet in her bed. She will quickly drop off.

Probably take 3-7 nights to establish this.