Child's Insomnia

You know, my daughter, who is 3, is also having trouble sleeping. I think part of it is that it gets increasingly light at night, and the atmospheric conditions have been wierd this week.

I know that when I have had trouble sleeping as an adult the more I think about it the harder it is to sleep, so my heart is with her! I never go to bed early when I have had insomnia the night before because that is what happens. The long-winding down time is a good idea. Maybe allowing her to read in bed for awhile before she lies down could help, too, because it will take her mind off of it.

I like others' suggestions of melatonin, as well.

Great time to start a journal. Writing helps keep the wheels from turning while trying to sleep.

Try a sleep mask if there is a light issue. My 8 yo daughter just got one from the Easter bunny and she loves it. When she has trouble falling asleep (or has bad dreams and can't fall back to sleep) I have given her a mental list of things to try: try counting as high as you can/see how high you can get, tighten and and relax every part of your body starting with your toes and work your way up little by little to the top of your head, say a prayer/talk to God, try playing a movie in your head/try to remember every detail, think about your favorite vacation and try to recall every detail. I use these tricks, too. Most of the time when I have tried these it tends to distract me from the fact that I was having a hard time falling asleep, so I stop thinking about it and I end up falling asleep.

Melatonin works and is safe. You can purchase in most vitamin depts. Walgreens always has some sort of deal 2 for 1's. Also, I've suffered from insomnia my whole life, and I have a bowl of oatmeal with milk and honey every night before bed. Just cook for about 2 mins in microwave. Puts me to sleep in a 1/2 an hour or so. Good luck!

I seem to remember when my daughter was hitting puberty (she was an early bloomer) she had some weeks where it was hard to get to sleep. She was always a good sleeper from the time she was 2 so it was a definate change. She absolutely needs her sleep and wakes up at 7 or 7:30 whether she goes to bed at 9 or 12 so it was a problem. Maybe try a long walk in the late afternoon. That always seems to help when we have trouble falling asleep. Good luck.

My 8 yo was having a hard time with this issue last summer. We discovered when she started being more active during the day (running around, biking, jumping rope, etc.) she had a lot easier time falling asleep. Does your daughter get time to run around enough during the day?