Sleep Disorders

[benandal]

My 4 year old will not sleep throughout the night. After a few hours of sleep with the help of melatonin and vallerian root she wakes up and "plays" for hours on end. When I hear her I have to get up as she doesn't realize danger yet. I've caught her bouncing on furniture and falling off, climbing onto the kitchen countertops, she even pushed over a tv set that weighed 2x what she does. I have an appointment with a behavorist but cannot get in to see him for several more months. Any suggestions would be great...she's not getting enough sleep and neither am I.

[vlemoine]

The first thing I would say is make sure your not giving your child anything with sugar in it at least a couple of hours before bedtime. This means no juice, soda, and koolaid also, if your child is thirsty give her water only before bedtime. If this is not the case I am curious how is the childs behavior during the day?

[benandal]

Thanks but she doesn't get any sugar - I'm diabetic so everything is sugar free. From what I'm told at daycare, she's just as active as the other kids. I've been able to get her to sleep by giving her several droppers of valarian root, melatonin, calm forte pills all with varying combinations. Unfortunately it doesn't keep her asleep throughout the night...she still gets up because she wants to play. She'll stay in her room, take all her clothes out of the dresser and the closet and change out of her pjs.

She has an appointment with a behavorist in the middle of August so I'm just biding my time with the different natural remedies.