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My son is 4. He complains he cannot sleep because he cannot "turn off his brain". Luckily we homeschool so we can work around his schedule. Last night he was up for four hours after getting four hours sleep. He said he had to get up to work. We read, had a snack (banana and water),talked, and had computer time. He then asked to do some school work. Eventually he crashed (saying he needed some sleep while it was still night). I was then able to as well. My husband got up this morning with my eight month old since she got up an hour after I went to bed.



What do you do to help your children sleep? He knows it is night he is just wide awake. Same thing is going on tonight. He keeps saying thoughts are running in his head and he cannot sleep. He has always gone until he crashes but he used to sleep through the night once he feel asleep at 11.

Melatonin.

My DD7 needs a lot of sleep compared to other kids her age, but has a hard, hard time "turning off" at night. (She also doesn't sleep in much in the morning if she's short on sleep - she just wakes up grumpy and goes downhill from there.)

I don't turn off at night either. I drink Chamomile tea before bed and strictly NO studying/reading anything interesting etc from about an hour before bedtime. And I journal a lot to get my thoughts out. Maybe that would help?

I really sympathise. Little'un was the same. From a baby we would get him off at about 9pm - he would fuss around all night then wake up ready to go at 4 am. If he slept at all during the day - say a half hour at midday - then that would translate into 2 hours extra awake at night. We were like ZOMBIES! One of the reasons I couldn't hold down a job.

When we went to his new school there was quite an old fashioned teacher (though she herself was very young) who said little'un wasn't being stretched enough during the day. After 2 weeks in her class we were finally getting some sleep (admittedly at this point he was just 9 years old).

One thing we did find helpful - admittedly a bit later on - was talking books/CDs. We would put him to bed at around 8, then put on a CD (usually History, or Shakespeare, or Greek myths.....you know what I mean) and he was happy to stay in besd doing his drawing and listening to the stories. He would fall asleep - give us a break - and also retain loads of stuff which amazes us and his friends and teachers. This might work if your little'un will go for this and is old enough.

GeoMamma - Until recently I never switched off either (I'm fast approaching 51). I used to put the radio on and listen to stories or something (Not news or politics - Grrrr!). We have BBC Radio4 and Radio 7 which broadcast these. I know your PBS is quite good too. maybe you could podcast some BBC shows and listen as you drift off. Or maybe some music. I know the gentle stuff never worked for me, but some Bach, Handel and Mozart with lots of counterpoint used to do the trick(?)

I really do sympathise.

You probably do this/know this, but LOTS of physical activity seems to help. I can tell a huge difference in sleeping and falling asleep if we skip the outdoor play. If we can't go outdoors, I make sure he does jumping jacks, wheelbarrow walks, crab walks, jumping on the bed (yes, I allow that), jump rope until he is panting. The physical activity helps his mind settle down it seems. My son is constantly on the move just by doing regular things around the house and I would think that alone would tire him out, but it does not...he needs the extra hard activity of outdoor play to quiet his brain by night time.

Other than that, we follow a STRICT bedtime routine even on weekends. (We started this because he has an ASD and loves routines anyway.) But it rarely varies and helps a lot. If the routine is NOT followed (like this first week of school there are some changes because he keeps remembering things he wants to excitedly tell me about) it takes longer to go to sleep.

Nan

Mom2MEB,

I really sympathize! DS(now 8) was that way, and still can be when he's excited or anxious. Funny, school just started yesterday and he's had trouble sleeping. You starting this thread may have reminded me we need to go back to our old ways for a couple weeks.

Here's what worked for DS. DH or I would sit/cuddle with DS on the sofa in our room in the dark for about 20 minutes after we finished reading with him. We would quietly play games with him in the dark -- nothing stimulating. The one that worked best for us was playing a version of 20 questions. It was purposely not difficult. Me: I'm thinking of an animal DS: What letter does it start with? Me: P DS: Is it a mammal? Me: Yes.... You get the idea. Pretty much all questions were allowed, even if they weren't yes or no questions... It would usually take just a few minutes for him to guess. He enjoyed getting the answer and would take a turn to stump me. We tried other things like free association, although that was sometimes troublesome if he started bringing up "stressful" words or if I did by accident. Sometimes we did simple math problems (how many minutes until it's 9:00?) that took a little thought.

Basically, it was a way to take his mind off whatever he was obsessing (or stressing) about at the moment.

I hope you find something that works for you. I know it's hard on both the DC and YOU when sleep is an issue.

Wishing you a good night's sleep!

Just thought of something else.

In my house, we believe strongly that sleep begets sleep. My DC used to be up and running around at 10:30 even though they'd been put to bed at 9:00. We ended up staggering bedtimes which helped since DSyounger would be asleep by the time DSolder would get in bed.

I still find that if my DC get to bed by 8:15 or 8:30 (lights-out), they get to sleep quickly and sleep until 8:00 AM if I let them. But if lights are out after 9:00, they'll be up chatting longer, and get up earlier!

You might want to try it. I also recommend no TV/computer time for a couple hours before bed time. For my kids, that's the ultimate stimulation. Of course, that may also be because we don't do much TV/computer here...

Hugs!

Thanks for the suggestions. I think part of it is his baby sister. DS has always been a light sleeper (except when totally exhausted) but he stirs when he hears her and then a couple of minutes later is fully up. My husband and I have been each taking one to get back to sleep. Last night my husband had to sleep with my son to get him to go back to sleep. Hey wasn't ideal but we all got sleep.

I agree with the physical activity on the days he has been able to go for a nightime swim he has come in and passed out.

Thanks for the other suggestions to try.

We put a HEPA Air Filter/Cleaner in the boys' because of my one son's allergies. The side benefit ended up being that it stopped the problem of the older one waking up all the time due to being a light sleeper. Have you tried any white noise type solutions? Or maybe a continuous CD of (for lack of a better word) new age type music?

mama22Gs = that's a good suggestion I think. Or maybe a talk radio station played very quietly, which is a kind of white noise. I think that is why the Cds worked with little'un, with the bonus that he actually retained a lot of the stuff