11 Year Old Afraid to Sleep Alone

[KAM006]

My eleven year old son is afraid to sleep by himself. Up until last month he slept with us, his parents. Since school has started, we have him sleeping with his eight year old sister who is constantly complaining and not wanting him to sleep with her. He seems to have some fear about sleeping alone. We have tried nightlights, sleeping with the dog, etc. but nothing seems to work.

Also, he is always tired, he has indicated to us. We get him to bed by 9:00 p.m., with him falling asleep by 9:30 p.m. but he has to wake up by 6:30 p.m. We cannot seem to get him to bed any earlier.

However, our greatest problem is that he is extremely fearful of sleeping alone. What are your suggestions.

Also, do they make a children's sleep pill? He is restless throughout much of his sleep.

Thank you.

[dan669]

I had the same problem i am almost 12 and ive fixed it!
All I did was get a stereo in my room then get some nice jazzy music I listen to Miles Davis. Since its nice and slow it really worked for me. It helps them take there fears off everything.

GIVE IT A TRY GUYS!

[Birthdaygirl5059]

My 13 year old son who has combined type ADHD has always had difficulties getting to sleep and also staying in his own bed at night.  No matter what I've tried!  Lately he has had incredible trouble getting to sleep -usually he is reasonably quick to fall asleep if he climbs into the bed with me.  So this is new for us. I do believe around this age they tend to have greater difficulties with sleep and getting to sleep soI have asked his Psychiatrist to prescribe medication for his (and everyone's) sake as a temporary measure. He has ordered a prescriptive dose of Melatonin (which is a natural medicine for aiding sleep), but this only relaxes him enough to get to sleep.  Just started so not sure if it will be beneficial in the long run.  It's still taking him a while to actually get to sleep.  The good think about this page is people can being to realize they are not on their own, including the young people/children who are so brave to post and share some of their darkest thoughts and feelings.  I hope that we can all, through sharing and caring, get a better nights sleep very soon :)

[waianae]

put a tv in your 11 years room

[alexa07654]

I'm an 18 year old girl, freshman in college. However embarrassing it is, I will honestly say that I did the same thing when I was your sons age. I couldnt sleep alone. It just scared me being alone. If my parents tried to make me sleep alone, I would cry and eventually sleep in the bed with my older sister. I just hated sleeping in my own room. What got me to sleep on my own is the fact that i slept in our spare room, which was a queen sized bed, whereas my own room's bed was only a twin. I would lay in that bed as long as it took then eventually I just fell asleep. I would also put a pillow on each side of me because it felt like i wasnt alone. it may sound strange but after enough times of doing this i was able to sleep by myself. TRY IT!! and good luck :)

[smiley56]

I find this forum very interesting. In some cultures kids sleep with their parents and/or siblings until they get married! Even in this day and age. Actually I think the whole concept of sleeping in your own room is quite new. In the days of yore people couldn't afford to have multi-room houses, or for that matter to heat a multi-room home, and everyone slept in the same room if not in the same bed every night-- mom, dad, sister, brother, baby, maybe even grandma and the dog. Giving children their own rooms just meant you were really well off.

[sleepdog]

We have an 11 year old and he used to sleep fine. Over the last few months he has started crying after he goes to sleep. We wake him up and he is fine but complains of a bad dream. If we let him cry he just starts screaming but if we wake him up he just asks what happened. If he sleep with us in our bed he is fine. Sometimes I sleep next to him in his bedroom and he is ok, if he starts to cry I touch him and he wakes up then usually goes to sleep again. I found an interesting reference  about lucid dreaming that seemed interesting but we just don't know what to do to get him over this.?