How can I get my 10 year old daughter to go to sleep at night?

Question

My daughter has never been a good sleeper right from being a baby. She tries to get to sleep but just can't until average 11pm at night and this makes her tired the next day. We have tried reading, night lights, soft radio - even allowed her Guinea Pigs in her room for company but she still has difficulty. I think she gets really upset with herself and she really hates it if everyone else has gone to sleep and she feels lonely. Any ideas?

Answer 1

I have an 11 year old daughter, our nighttime routine never varies.
We try to have dinner at the same time each night. After dinner it's a little bit of television. Bath time snack and then bed. Bedtime is between 8 and 8:30 this gives her time to relax a little and I leave her television on low. If she is the type to lay there all night and watch it but something boring on like an infomercial or home-shopping type channel. Another trick is having her shut he eyes and counts back words from 500 down to one in her head and to visualise each number as she counts. she will fall asleep before she reaches one. Try it out for yourself first so you can see it does work. You can try making it a challenge for her, tell her to try and remember what number she was on when she fell asleep. In the morning when she can't remember make it a challenge for that night and so on and so forth.

Answer 2

When I was in 5th grade, I had the same problems. I know how your daughter feels.

Although laying next to her might help, it is alot of stress on you every night.

Try taking her for a walk around 6 or 7 every night, just to let that extra energy out. If time permits, have her take a warm bath (try turning the lights off and lighting some pretty candles).

When I was younger we talked to my doctor about it. He recommended keeping a journal next to my bed. If I couldn't sleep, open it up and write what I was thinking about. This helped to get rid of some of my anxiety.

He also recommended a small bowl of something like cheerios right before bed, not cookies or sugar. Then a cup of warm milk.

Have her lay down in bed about 1/2 hr before turning out the lights and have her read. It can help relax them.

Talk to your doctor if the problem persists. My doctor actually gave me some herbal pills that helped me sleep, but only use on doctor recommendation. They know whats good for younger children.

Answer 3

I have always struggled to sleep, right from when I was a baby, after speaking to my GP I had a number of things to try, essentially don't read, watch TV or play computer games atc once in bed and preparing for sleep, these all engage your mind and make it harder to switch off. I have complete darkness, use a face mask and ear plugs for silence as I find sounds very distracting and get my mind working again! I also use a breathing technique where I count my breath in for 5, hold for 5, count it out for 5 and hold for 5 & so on for 10 reps.. this helps to relax me and takes my mind off everything else. Also warm milky drinks 30 mins or so before bed help, as does no caffeine (Tea, Coffee, Coke etc after 5pm..) Tea really keeps me awake at nights. My mum also swears by eating lettuce as it has a natural sleep inducer and steer clear of apples in the evenings!! All sound a bit strange but really do work for me when I struggle... Finally, no ticking clocks, if she has an alarm clock, make it digital so she isn't aware of the sound of the seconds ticking by, this caused me hours of madness!!!

Answer 4

Knock her out!!! No jus kidding try letting her run around and do something active during the day and thenwhen it comes to 2 or 3 hours before her bedtime get her to calm down in a nice warm bath then in her pj's. After that if you have time you can brush her hair or read something. and then maybe watch the telling till 15mins before going to bed and then let her have a hot chocolate or holiks or whatever thats called with a few biscuits. and then she can go to bed. make sure the room is dark if she dont like it dark have a little night light. tell her to close her eyes and keep her eyes closed until she falls asleep. good luck

Answer 5

My six year old grandson is the same he does not sleep much. Consequently he cannot handle his tiredness during the day and get really crabby with himself.

Like you my daughter has tried everything she even lets him sleep with her so she can get a asleep.

I think that your daughter must have an over active mind and needs the reassurance that you are there. Have you tried talking books for her she may find these comforting even though she doesn't sleep.

Oh I do hope she grows out of this for her sake and everyone elses as it must be an awful worry to you. I know it is to my Daughter that her son hardly sleeps.

Answer 6

i don't know if this will help but it is worth a try. get her to be more active during the day, if she already is then get her doing more. now days to many parents allow their kids to sit in front of the TV. computer or video games. go for a walk with her at night, or a bike ride. she needs to make her self tired out and the only way of doing that is exercise. also another thing is if she is eating right before bed there are things in food that can keep you from sleeping not just coffee, or soda.

Answer 7

have her lay in her bed aafter getting in pajamas and read a really boring educational book at 8 pm at night and if that does not help her get sleepy then lay by her and snuggle with her. I do this with both my kids 1 or 2 times a week and they feel nore secure and happy that mommy loves them enough to help them get to sleep. Also no tv past 7 pm for tv stimulates the mind and it takes an hour or more to get the brain to unwind and want to settle down. No caffine after 4 pm for that will not halp. Try water milk juice or koolaid.
Have take a half an hour walk around your neighborhood with friends or a trusted adult after school to help tucker her out

Answer 8

There is a few good answers, but one that's really easy, get her a notebook, not a diary,then she'll worry about people stealing it, tell about something like how you did it, and blah blah, just make her feel comfortable. Don't tell her she has to use it, or that she must write this much or so on, just let her write in it. I did this when I couldn't sleep, I felt great and tired, I fell asleep AND felt good. Just try it!

Answer 9

Is she being bullied at school and maybe worrying about that?
Can you get her to write everything down is troubling her down in a book...whether you read it or not is up to you, and try massage...when I took my daughter to baby massage I was told by the instructor that the techniques taught there are useful for the whole of life, see if you can do a massage course.
Also, since she is ten, do you think that maybe she could be suffering with growing pains at night?

Answer 10

ask her what wrong i had the same problem i was scared about like things like kidnapers so i still sleep with a night light and the tv on if she has the same problem as me have her get in bed extra early and rub her back untill she falls asleep and show her that all the doors are locked and if you have on that the securty system is on, also my parents put the portable phone in my room that has a pager on it that goes to the one in their room so if i was scared i would push it. my dad gave my a comb that opens like a switch blade knife that he told me would scare the bad people away. She what is causing the problem for me it was watching the invesigation show. Good Luck