Tween Can't Sleep.....

[Terry36]

Dd(11) has been unable to fall sleep until 4 or 5 am then sleeps until 1 or 2 in the afternoon. This has been going on for at least 3 weeks now. She goes to bed around midnight and is unable to fall asleep.

I'm getting worried and have made an apointment with her doctor this coming week. School starts in about 3 weeks so she can't continue on like this.

Has anyone experienced this with their kids? If so, what have you done to help them sleep?

Your advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[stsomewhere]

My son is 12. That is his preferred schedule. I make him get up early and ride the excercise bike. Lots of physical activity.

 

[damo]

I'd start waking her around 10 o'clock.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

It's a cycle and you need to break it. Wake her up early for a week, make her get more than enough exercise each day. Do not allow naps. Your child will be miserable, but the sleep cycle will change back.

Just a side note, no TV or music to fall a sleep to. White noise in the background is okay.

Hope all works for you.

 

[BCDisneyFanatic]

It seems like she's messed up her natural sleep rhythm. If you're letting her sleep in until 1 or 2 in the afternoon, she's getting 8 to 10 hours of sleep...so of course she's not going to be tired at midnight (after only being awake for 10 hours).

I'd treat it like jet lag. As a PP suggested, wake her up at 10 am for the next couple of days. Although she will probably be tired and cranky, it's important that she stay awake until at least 10pm, or she may end up just having a nap for a few hours rather than falling into a night-time sleep pattern. Lots of sunlight and keeping active during the day (but not after about 9 pm) will also help her body adjust.

 

[SandiH]

Try Melatonin as well. It helps my kids fall asleep when they are having trouble. I agree that you need to break the cycle. If she's sleeping in until 1 or 2, then of course she's not going to be tired at a reasonable hour.

 

[paintnolish]

I, too, think you just need to break the cycle. It's easy to get into over the summer- my whole family has! Dh is a teacher, so he's not working. I'm a server and work nights, so I can sleep in, and the kids obviously aren't in school. I will begin scaling back on the time we wake up. We will naturally start going to bed later. Also, as kids age, they are supposed to fall into a "delayed sleep preference." I don't think most ever make it out of that stage! GL!

 

[ajk912]

I can't imagine waking up my almost 11 year old after 5-6 hours of sleep though, he would be a bear all day!!! If I was the OP, I would wake her up at noon one day, push it back to 11 the next day, 10 the next day, 9 the day after that...till she gets to 7am or whatever time she will need to be up for school. I would have her on a normal sleep schedule at least a week before school starts, middle school is tough enough without being exhausted.

My son isn't allowed to stay up past 11pm now, but luckily school doesn't start for about 5 weeks here, so we don't need to scale it back bedtime quite yet. He has to be up at 6:30am for school, so I am thinking he will have a 9:30 in bed, 10pm ASLEEP rule this year.

 

[Terry36]

Thank you for the advice. I will definately start waking her up earlier and keep her from napping. I woke her at noon yesterday and at 9 this morning.

 

[HappyDznyCamper]

Thank you for the advice. I will definately start waking her up earlier and keep her from napping. I woke her at noon yesterday and at 9 this morning.

Good for you! Don't forget to keep her busy too, no hours upon hours of playing couch potato!!

 

[tink_lover]

Terry -one more thing is to remember to check for ipods, phones, nintendo, etc. I recently figured out that when my dd11 was late in getting up in the morning - even though she had gone to bed early, it was because she was playing games and staying up VERY late. Good luck! I'm not looking forward to the middle school start time of 7:15

 

[cathyce2]

Also keep an eye on her diet and limit anything with sugar or caffine late in the day. My DD and DH like to make ice cream floats to watch tv with and she never sleeps well afterwards.

 

[Terry36]

UPDATE: DD seems to be on the right track the past few nights and we've woken her at 10 yesterday and 9 this morning.

Try Melatonin as well. It helps my kids fall asleep when they are having trouble. I agree that you need to break the cycle. If she's sleeping in until 1 or 2, then of course she's not going to be tired at a reasonable hour.

What dosage did you give your kids, 1, 2 or 3 mg?