9 Year old sleep issues.

[Chrissie1979]

Hi all. Just after some advice/tips please. My daughter is 9 years old and for the pay 9-10 months she’s really struggling at bedtime. She takes hours to go to sleep and that is with me sitting with her and then she wakes anything between 2-4 times during the night. I’ve tried numerous things and I feel like I’m going wrong somewhere. Tia.

Sorry no advice as such but I'm reaching out in solidarity.
My DS 10 in the summer has had difficulties falling asleep for the last 18 months.
He was obsessive over the time for a while and panicking that he wasn't falling asleep by a certain time so we built up to removing his bedroom clock. It hasn't made him fall asleep any easier but the panicked anxiety about the time has thankfully gone.
We stopped putting him to bed too early as just lying there with only his thoughts was causing him distress, he goes up to start bedtime routine at 9.45 now and is in bed by 10. I know that's late for his age but he's a high achiever academically and the lack of sleep doesn't seem to impact him at school. For us we would rather have him settled and happy watching tv with us than lying alone in his room getting anxious.

I guess there's no right or wrong way, for me personally putting aside all of my thoughts of an ideal bedtime and going with what suits him has made him much happier. Some nights he's still lying in bed awake at 11.30 and some he's asleep by 10.15. I think some children just don't need as much sleep as others.

Could this be linked with puberty? My daughter’s sleep pattern changed around then, she went to sleep much later, often after me and started down the ‘teenage’ route of going to sleep late and then napping at the weekend.

Not everyone will want to go down this route, but we’ve recently started giving DD10 melatonin and it’s changed our lives. She goes to sleep calmly and is well rested and cheerful in the morning. You can buy it OTC in France so we order online. It’s less than £10 a month.