Insomnia in a 12yo...HELP!

[freeindeed]

My dd12 has struggled with insomnia for over a year. She takes 3 mg of Melatonin every night, but it's not helping any more. She can't take Tylenol PM b/c it can interact with her seizure medications. I am looking for natural ways to help her sleep. So far I have these:

1. Get at least 45 min. of physical activity each day.

2. No sugary treats past 3:00 p.m. (She doesn't drink anything with caffeine, so no issues there.)

3. No screen time starting at 8:00 p.m. (Her bedtime is 9:00 p.m.)

4. Wake up between 7:30-8:00 a.m. every day. (We do this for school, but this will be her wakeup time-even on weekends.)

 

Any more thoughts and ideas?

[Ravin]

Many kids as they go into their teens develop circadian rhythmns that run late. Does she have to get up early for school? adjusting her schedule to sleeping in later in the morning might help her get more sleep overall.

[Stayseeliz]

My 11yo has trouble going to sleep at night. We talked to his ped and he suggested making sure he has a routine before bed at night. About an hour before he wants to be in bed DS takes a shower, gets a glass of milk, brushes his teeth, prays with me and gets a glass of milk. This helps his body settle down and relax, It really has helped! I think since we started the bedtime routine he's only had one night where he's had a hard time going to sleep! I think looking at your schedule I'd back the no screen thing up a bit as well to at least two hours before bedtime.

[JNW]

Maybe you should talk to your doctor about melatonin. I take the pure liquid non-synthetic form, not the pills. It helps you fall asleep if you take it within 15 minutes of when you want to fall asleep. Studies show that after 60 days of taking it every day, it helps you stay asleep, sleep longer, and get better quality sleep. It does affect hormones so it would be good to do some research.

[J-rap]

I've heard that taking a vitamin D capsule and eating a light protein snack before bed can help with sleep. Also, a relaxing hot bath always helps me.

[Starr]

I've posted this before in case I sound like a broken record. Dd has had trouble sleeping since she was 4 or 5. After trying everything I could think of I read a short comment in a family magazine and tried the following. She listens to a story tape (well maybe yours wouldn't have tapes around. lol ). She can't listen to music or a new book. She listened to her favorites books over and over. She must have the Narnia and Wizard of Oz books memorized. If she woke up in the night she had to stay in bed but could put her story back on. Somehow they lulled her to sleep. She continues with sleep issues but can live without her audio books now she is in college. I think she should go back to them when she can't sleep. ;)

[Katy]

If you let her sleep in will she get her full 7-10 hours? If so I would shift her schedule back several hours until she naturally wakes up. Sleep is more important than a schedule when you're homeschooling.

 

If that didn't work I'd work through the following:

• I would talk to her neurologist (depending on the type of epilepsy it could be a symptom or a side effect of a medication).
  
• I would request they give her a blood test to check Vitamin D and thyroid (she's young for thyroid issues but it is possible, or she could be not eating enough iodine). If either were low I would slowly add Vitamin D3 & iodine supplements, retesting every 3 months until both were at optimum levels).
  
• I would stop screen time three hours before bed, and get rid of compact flourecent bulbs, replacing them with either LED's or incandecents. This can be expensive so I would start in her bedroom and then the 3 rooms she spends the most time in in the evenings.
  
• I would greatly change the cycle on the programmable thermostat so the house was at least 10 degrees cooler after dark than it is during the afternoon.
  
• I would have her start a bedtime routine that involved a warm bath (inducing a slight fever and then cooling off afterwards often induces sleep), chamomile tea with milk and a spoonful of blackstrap molasses, and either reading the most boring book she can find while in bed (if you're not a religious family), or praying for everyone and everything she can think of while in bed (if you are a religious family).
  

 

[Karen in CO]

You should talk to her doctor. Her seizure medication may be contributing to the insomnia. I take a daily medicine for migraines that is a tiny dose of a medicine used for seizures. It makes my insomnia almost unbearable. She may need her medication schedule or her medication adjusted to help her sleep.

 

My 12yo dd also a terrible time sleeping. We discussed it with our respiratory doctor who reviewed her medications list then said, "Of course you can't sleep." They've done blood work and are planning to reduce her antihistamines (currently taking 5 per day) and her inhalers (currently taking 3 per day) to try to help her sleep and overall health.

[AngieW in Texas]

My 15yo and my 17yo are both on sleep meds.

 

My 15yo went through two years of severe insomnia. It got to the point that she was sleeping only 4-5 hours/night and that wasn't even all in one chunk. She was having microsleeps during the day too. We tried everything, including counseling for anxiety. Benadryl worked for a little while, as did zyrtec and melatonin. Nothing worked for very long though. I finally got the psychiatrist to give her a trial of a sleep med (trazodone). She actually slept that night. After two nights of actually sleeping, 95% of all the symptoms I had been taking her to doctors for over the previous two years went away.

 

My 15yo is taking 37.5-50mg of trazodone at night (3/4 of a tablet or a full tablet). She has been on the sleep med for 1.5 years now.

 

My 17yo is also on sleep meds. The doctor tried her on trazodone first but it made her feel like she needed to walk around and then she passed out. Then she tried her on remeron (mirtazipine), but it made her ravenous and stopped working after a few weeks anyway. The psychiatrist had her try melatonin again, but at a much higher dose (10mg, when we had not gone beyond 3mg) and told her she could go up as high as 20mg. The dose that works for her (most of the time anyway) is 15mg. Sometimes she still wakes up at 4am and can't get back to sleep, but she can usually get at least 6 hours/night with 15mg of melatonin.

 

Maybe melatonin will work, but you just need a higher dose?

[freeindeed]

These are all great ideas. Thank you all.