How do I calm my 13 year old down?

[Motherknowsbest123]

So right now it’s Nearly 3am and my kids gone from sorting her wardrobe , to doing a bath bomb in the sink to doing her makeup too walking about upstairs . Currently sat on her bed but how do I get her Too sleep ? She’s very hyper

Because it’s hard, you are doing a great job but must be exhausted

My son was the same. He was prescribed melatonin by his paediatrician.

Oh , thank you💗

Is you DD doing enough during the day to wear herself out enough to sleep. In the past kids walked everywhere but nowadays to keep them safe get driven everywhere. Is she spending all day indoors.

Archairanarchist, melatonin did absolutely nothing for me!

Motherknowsbest, your daughter will be fine. She'll sleep when she needs to and isn't back at school yet.

My son used to be awake at all sorts of odd hours, doing things. Did him no harm, he's adult now. I didn't fuss about it & am glad I didn't, it all works out in the end.

Sometimes she goes out and other times she sits on her bed watching Netflix in her room . Probrably does more than watch Netflix but she’s in her room so I give her some privacy

Just take time to be you, and come here if you ever need to talk x

@jessstan2 DS didn't like the way it made him feel so he only took it a few times. He's adult now with a successful career.

Jess , I hope she improves for school . Normally that’s quite bad (3am or before ) doing all sorts of random stuff . What age did your son stop doing this type of stuff ?

DS 7 has ADHD, the only things that hold his attention are screens. For sleep, lavender bubble bath and pillow spray, weighted blanket, same bedtime every night. Lots of activity in the morning, none 3 hours before bed. Dinner as late as possible.

You could ask her to keep a journal and write things down....

My DS had insomnia at the age, as did I. Still do. I bought him a little TV which he used to watch overnight.

She'll sleep when she needs to Is that the same as "they'll eat when they want to?" Because it doesn't work like that!

My dd lay awake in bed until 12am/1pm every night and would wake at 3am for an hour or more, then again at 7am for the day! This went on for YEARS! She was exhausted and never did sleep "when she needed to" She has since been dx with ASD and is only melatonin.

Op, I would at least try to get her into bed, and onto a peaceful, relaxing activity. She isn't going to wind down hoping from one activity to another. I would make sure she knows that 3am is not the time for her to being wondering around the house as she pleases, but tell her that quiet time in bed/on her bed will be fine.

Good luck with the peads, Melatonin is a life saver for us.

Philomena , that’s the same with my child . Except when not on her phone or iPad she will be doing a new thing every 5-10 minutes 🤦🏼‍♀️

Exactly. It's very difficult to hold his attention. 15 minutes is pushing it.

I'd suggest melatonin. It doesn't work for DS because he'd fall asleep if I put him to bed at 2pm, but he wakes up at 5am whatever time I put him to bed.

Melatonin (circadin) usually works for my ADHD boy. He has been taking his elvanse too late though at the moment so has been a real struggle this holidays

I’ll probs talk to whoever when the meeting takes place about meds in 2 weeks . As for now how do I prevent the same happening until then ?

My 10 year old is awaiting an adhd diagnosis. Her sleep varies but at times when she is too hyper to sleep I have to lie with her to keep her settled. She has music on in the background which she says she has to have. Silence unsettles her more.
Generally she can settle after about half an hour of me lying next to her. Me being there stops her getting up and pacing around etc.

Has she managed to process and talk through her diagnosis?

My DS (12) was diagnosed with Autism in November and he was fine with it for a few weeks then started acting out, his behaviour became manic and it was almost like a regression.

The CAMHS team told us that it's quite typical in older kids as they are trying to balance hormones and chemical imbalances along with anxiety whilst trying to process and understand all the new information they've had.

We just made sure we were as clued up as we could be on Autism and used literature from different sources to help us answer his questions, obviously it hasn't completely solved the issue but it does seem to have calmed things slightly.

Also agree with pp regarding silence being unsettling. DS has always struggled with silence, he says it makes him anxious because his brain is doing a million miles an hour with nothing to distract him.

He is hypersensitive to sound too so what we might think is silence is actually overload to him with clocks ticking, usual household noises and even electricity pulsing through sockets need to be drown out by one noise. He doesn't like music but does relax with train sounds.

Normally she keeps her tv on . There is less movement tonight as her door is shut but I still hear her . I told her to put calm music on , no Idea if she has or not