Sleeping Issues

Erik's had sleeping issues for the past 4-5 months.  He falls asleep without any problems but then 4-5 nights a week had been waking up in the middle of the night (3:00-4:00 AM) and couldn't fall back asleep.  

This problem was made worse by his refusal to wake me up; instead he would try and watch TV (we don't have cable -but stream amazon prime).  In order to keep him from having access to screens at night, I learned to shut down the internet when I go to bed, moved all the DVDs we own into my room,  and changed the passwords on our ipad and my phone.

Once his access to screens was fully eliminated he started getting other toys out in the middle of the night, sometimes waking up his siblings, eating.  Clearly making poor choices!

I had talked to him at length about this and he was well aware that his allowed middle of the night activities included reading, waking me up, or just laying in bed.

I spoke to his doctor about it and they suggested we try melatonin.  I was skeptical that this would help as he has no problem falling asleep and melatonin doesn't last for more than 4-5 hours but I gave it a try.   The first 3-4 days it seems to help, but then he was back to his old tricks.

Finally, I found what I think is a solution.  A couple weeks ago, I stumbled upon my "Healthy sleep Habits, Happy Child" book written by Dr. Marc Weissbluth that I had used when my babies were infants.  Low and behold, there is a section on school age kids how wake in the middle of the night! 

His suggestion was that Erik was in bed too long and just could not fall asleep again at 3 AM because he was no longer tired.  He suggested moving back his bedtime significantly.  Erik had typically been going to bed by 8 PM (7:45-8:15).   And I have asked the kids not to leave their rooms before 0700.  So he was in bed(room) around 11 hours.   The typical 8 year old only need approx. 10 hours of sleep.

So, for the past 2 weeks I have put him to bed at 9:00-9:20.  This seems way to late to me but it has been working!!!  I stopped the melatonin at that time too.  And he has never woken up before 5:00 and often sleeps until 7:00.  So much better!!!

He is a much happier, kind child when sleeping 9-10 hours consistently. 

Please pray this solution continues to work!

Thanks!