Lately our nearly 12 year old exceptionally gifted son has had trouble sleeping.
I looked up sleeping "issues" for kids his age and am not getting much help.
He complains that he can't stop thinking. He recently told me it's like he has a gremlin in his mind!
Some background...
Since he's been a baby, we've had classical music playing for him at night. We thought he would outgrow this, but when he is sleepless, he wants the music even louder to almost "drown out" his thoughts.
Also, he wants the lights on. He says that he wants to know what's in the dark. I tell him there's nothing in the dark that's not in the light, but he persists in wanting the lights on.
I told him that his brain can see those lights and maybe is making falling asleep harder. So I bought him a sleep mask and told him to put it on so that even though we will keep his room light on, his eyes are covered. He was told if he wakes, and gets scared, he can lift the eye mask and see the room.
He hates the mask. Did I mention he is hyper sensitive to smell? I washed it and yet he still complains it smells "bad". It's new from a big box linen store.
Things have gotten really bad lately. He didn't sleep for two days/night and we resorted to giving him a quarter part of a Unisom in warm milk to get him over the "hump" of thinking he "can't" fall asleep on his own.
So, last night was the first night we put a pill in his milk. He slept well. But came down with a virus and has a fever today.
Has anyone experience in this age with sleeplessness?
As an aside: At this age I was a sleepwalker. Is this a similar situation?
