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My 9-Year-Old Daughter Has Slept Very Little Per Night Since She Was A Toddler

by Wendy
(Rindge, NH)

My daughter at 18 months old was awake for 36 hours straight when I took her to the pediatrician literally exhausted to tears. She could not sleep. However, she was very content, and happily enjoying her surroundings. No matter what I did she was bright eyed and bushy tailed.


We developed a sleep routine for her and started melatonin at the suggestion of her pediatrician. The melatonin worked for a while. Periodically, we tried to wean her off the melatonin, but we never could keep her off it totally. Now to move ahead seven years to now.

She is nine years old now. We have carefully kept her monitored through her pediatrician and almost all medications they have tried do not work. She has tried Benadryl, Clonidine, and Trazadone. However, she still cannot get to sleep. Once she gets too sleepy, she can *usually* stay sleeping.

My daughter can function on five hours of sleep. She gets up at 7 AM for school and sometimes will not fall to sleep that night until 2 AM. I don't know how she manages. She has no behavioral issues at school. She gets mostly A's in school. Her teachers find her to be a conscientious, well-mannered student. She is also very pleasant at home. She simply cannot sleep.

She has seen a psych specialist and had testing done. The doctors state she suffers anxiety and worries about things too much. She also sees a therapist for relaxation techniques and for help decreasing her worries.

The lack of sleep does not effect her mood, her grades, nor her functioning in anyway. I find this very baffling. And the fact its been ongoing (off and on) since she was a toddler is even more confusing for me. There's got to be an answer.

Any help would be appreciated.

Comments for My 9-Year-Old Daughter Has Slept Very Little Per Night Since She Was A Toddler

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Feb 02, 2016
 My girl just doesn't sleep until late neally every night NEW
by: Anonymous

Wondering why my 9 year old daughter will not sleep until late neally every night for instance most nights she won't fall asleep anytime before midnight or sometimes even after midnight then she is up at 7am for school she never gets into any trouble at allat school she is always well mannered and respectful and also very helpful with other peers at school the only thing that she struggles with a bit is reading which is very common in a lot of school aged kids I would just like to know wat there is that I can do for her or why she might be like this for so she can at least get a better nights sleep or at least 7-8 hours sleep a night if you have any ideas or if you could help me in any way possible I would really appreciate some feed back cheers
Sep 01, 2016
 My sympathy, but you WILL get through this. NEW
by: Anonymous

We had a daughter who needed VERY little sleep -- as a toddler, she was constantly waking us and got very angry when we pointed out that we NEEDED our sleep!

Her older sister was a swimmer so she wanted to try swimming. It was a great fit. When she arrived at high school, she would be up and ready to go to early swim at 5:30 a.m., do a full day of school with excellent grades and do another 2 hour practice after school, come home, eat dinner, and do her homework until often midnight.

Fast forward 20 years and she's a delightful mother of three who knows exactly when to sleep, sleeps much more regularly, and yet has the energy to handle three delightful and energetic children.

My bet? it will all work out if you can live through this early stage. It is a complete challenge, but the child has to learn how to self-soothe and regulate their own bodily needs, including sleep.

from a Mom who's been where you are -- wishing you the best of luck.

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