Sleep anxiety

[Katiebird66]

My 9 yr. old has been showing increasing signs of anxiety when it's bedtime.  She wants to sleep with me or go downstairs to watch tv with her dad and ends up falling asleep on the couch.  She says she feels like she can't breathe or that she's going to die when she's faced with going to bed.  It's causing all of us a lot of frustration and stress.  What can I do to help her?

[margypops]

There is another thread on this site today about the same thing, check it out,I say the same thing to you, be firm and quiet tell her its bedtime read some nice stories take her to her room and tuck her in, she will say she cant breathe ,cant sleep, has stomach ache , head ache , of course you make sure she isnt ill, then you leave her in her room, no words, when she comes out do not give way ....send her back, if you are consistant it will take a few days then she will give up, no mixed messages giving in sometimes. Quietness and firmness will win the day Good Luck

[yuki3]

if she says her chest hurts and doesn't want to go to sleep or wants to sleep with you it could be she's scared become she feels she cant breathe and feels like shes not breathing and about to die you should give her milk stay with her till she sleeps. this could be because she eats spicy or oily food or sometime because of sour food. i know this because i feel that way when i go to sleep. I'm 14 now but when i was 12  i ate lot of those kind of foods. my mother used to give me milk and stayed up with me till i feel asleep after that i stopped eating those kind of foods