Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Problem sleeping ?

Couple of weeks ago , i was talking with a new neighbour who is a gifted teacher of a high school , and she was also a gifted too . She mentioned during our conversation that gifted children usually have trouble sleeping .

Now that she mentioned it .. i remember , during school year , DS mentioned so many times about oh how hard it was for him to fall asleep , that he finally fell asleep when it was 11 , 12 or sometimes 2 am !! And i just brushed it off , i thought he was exaggerating it , he does have clocks in his bedroom , but sort of didn't believe him . And i said well maybe you felt like it took forever to fall asleep ..

But after i heard from my neighbour telling me about how gifted kids usually have trouble falling asleep , it makes me wonder . Does this happen to any of your children ? And if they do have this problem , what should you do ?
I let DS wind down by reading books before bed .. meaning he's reading in bed , but at certain time , such as 9 or 9.30 , that's it , lights off and no more reading , time to sleep . But it doesn't seem to help ..

Any idea ?

Music to fall asleep. DS and I both have "the brainwon't shut up" syndrome. Quiet and lights out don't help because the brain just finds it easier to think more. Complex but subtle music works for him. I need a slightly interesting documentary or ballads or pure exhaustion.

Also, tired people often have attention problems.

I'd ask him if it is that his brain won't shut up. And if so what sort of thoughts run through his head before bed.

DS5 is on heavy dose of Melatonin and Hydroxyzine to top it off (helps with his allergies while it relaxes him). But there are many nights when even that doesn't help. The last two nights though (first two days of Kidnergarten), he's aout 30 minutes after I'd give him the meds! ... BUT he keeps waking up through the night about every 30 minutes. I think the excitement and craziness of first school days is keeping him too hyper even in his sleep.

Very oddly enough, DS9 does NOT have this particular problem... for which I am grateful. Difficulty sleeping is a very, very common symptom of ADHD, and ASDs, but he falls right asleep like a champ. Always has. 7 weeks old and he was sleeping 6hrs straight through the night.

DD8 infrequently complains of being unable to shut her brain off and get to sleep, but mostly it seems to be due to irregular nighttime patterns, which are easy to fall into during vacations or homeschooling. The closer we adhere to a regular schedule of bedtime and wakings, the less this is an issue.

oh us, too! i am the worst for falling asleep, and always have been (i have memories from being 5 and still being up when my mum would get in from chaperoning a high school dance.)

DD5 is just the same. our deal is that i read to her for 1/2 hour every night (we just started Agatha Christie mysteries - she's loving that - and it was a big part of my childhood so it's very snuggly, if perhaps a little too mentally engaging? WHO DID IT! THEORIES! FUN!)

however, after that is done, my deal with DD is that she is welcome to read a familiar book as long as she likes until she falls asleep. not something new, bedtime is not the time for that. i know she's up late nearly every night, and she never, ever "catches up" like i wish she would, but we've concentrated on getting her to at least enjoy a relaxing, peaceful bedtime. she's also allowed to listen to Brian Eno's Music for Airports if she's really in trouble - it's the most relaxing music i've ever heard. (and yes, i'm super old.)

When DS was little , baby , toddler , younger age , he never had any sleeping problem . As a baby he slept through the night since he was 3 months old .

Could be because of this summer vacations too . School started next week , we'll be homeschooling , but i am determined to set a schedule , meaning we have to be up early and start early so we can get things done early too .

If he still has the problem i'll try the music for him . Thanks !!

Yup, all three of us. I can't decide who is worse. DD10 stays up until past midnight reading and then needs music to fall asleep to and DS9 has trouble both falling and staying asleep. Me, I wake up in the middle of the night.. ZING... WIDE AWAKE... (sigh). The upside is that I seem to be able to function fine on 4-5 hours (3 or less catches up to me).

A while back I happened to get sick while in night school, and was slammed with fever induced insomnia the week before the final exam of a particular course. Fyi, I've never gotten insomnia because of school work - this was definitely due to a fever I had (DD had it too). During that week, I got maybe 6-7 hours of sleep in 5 days. (It was BRUTAL). I still managed to score 98% on the exam (phew )

Anyway as a result, I spent some time googling the effects of extreme insomnia and apparently it's not as bad for you as I'd though. It can obviously wreak havoc with kids in school though, which is why I'm in a bit of a panic over my two with school starting in a few weeks. They are both so off their schedules right now... their sleep is definitely a mess. At the moment I'm mulling over trying melatonin.