8yr old wont go to sleep well after we lay her down!! Any advise??

[t875]

Driving us mad! We lay her down at 8 and she isnt going to sleep till 9.30-10 o clock.

We have tried everything, reward charts, giving her longer to play..and she just wont settle down. We have asked her if everything is ok with school she said it was, happy with home.

we are constantly upstairs to try and get het to go to sleep!!

Any advise/tips would be great.
Thanks so much.

Were thinking of asking her teacher to keep an eye on things.

reading, watching tv (been taken for now) playing..anything.

Last night was better though!!

Thanks Seeker!

My DDs are younger than that so i dont have any personal experience with 8 yos but according to my Richard Ferber book 8 yos need 10 1/4 hours sleep a night, 9yo need 10 hours. What time does she have to get up?

tv is a stimulant, so I would def keep the tv out of the bedroom.

Yeah tv is gone from her room for now.

She has to get up 7am for school.

We have given her a set time of 8.30! We had a good chat so hopefully we will be able to get a happy medium with it all.

My dd went through this stage last year when she was 8, the thing that saved the situation was buying her an i-pod last christmas. We've loaded it with podcasts (children's obviously) and she listens to them once her light goes out. Her bedtime is now 8.30, although only recent changed from 8 and then she is allowed 1/2 hour reading time.

thats a great idea with the ipod!!

Thanks catmandu. Did your daughter get over it quite quick?

Yes, as soon as the i-pod arrived! If you get one I can let you know of some good podcasts for children.

Also I was being a bit slapdash about bothering to check her light was off, so now I'm in the habit of going up at 9 to turn it off. We often have alittle chat too, which is lovely.

Thanks very much for the advise. What sort of podcasts did you use?

We turn her light off anyway, but she has her bedroom door open so gets a lot of light off the hall. Maybe we will pull her door too when its near her to sleep.

Hi, Phraedd!

Drives you insane doesnt it. Were working on it, so far so good!!

Hope things change there for you with your dd!

We use i-tunes to manage our music and podcasts, the best podcasts for children are Kara's free audio books, American, but very nice. DD started listening to 'our island storey' a while ago and is now a huge history buff, so not only does she sleep now, but it's educational!

She also enjoyed Heidi, by the same reader.

I have read this with much interest!! ds1 is 10 and we have major sleep issues. It has got to the point now that he goes into bed at 8.30 and basically reads until he falls asleep. he is getting an mp3 player for xmas so I am going to try loading it with talking books....

Just thought I would check back and let you know we have got our daughter into a good sleep pattern again. She is sleeping loads better, we alternate putting her to bed from 8 but we say you can have 15mins read or sticker book if its 8.30 she goes, she is alseep by nine, we alternate from when she went to sleep the night before.

She is a lot better for it, not as tired in the morning and not so moody.

Thanks again for everyones ideas and advise.
i think we will also bring in the MP3 player soon!