Sleep book for older children

[grumo]

I posted this in Nighttime Parenting, but it quickly got bumped way down without much notice (I did get 1 recommendation). I am thinking most people who regularly sped time in the sleep forum are working through those baby and toddler issue.

So, I'll repeat here:

Can anyone recommend a book for helping me teach my daughter to fall asleep? She's never been a very good sleeper, but these days not matter what we try it seems like it takes 2 hours of laying there for her to fall asleep. I'd like to try some meditation type techniques with her and try to help her turn her brain off to sleep. She's 8.

[lonegirl]

My son is but 3 ....I feel though I will be in your shoes in a few years

[Magella]

My dd is like that. She has "busy brain" and just has difficulty relaxing both mentally and physically in order to fall asleep. It used to take her up to 2 hours to fall asleep (and, due to her anxiety, sometimes still does). We found that it helped a lot to teach her to relax her body, through guided meditations and relaxation exercises.

Also, there's a great book called Sleepless In America which has a lot of information about helping kids get more sleep, from tweaking their daily routine, to exercise, to when to shower/bathe in order to get the body ready for sleep, to relaxing/reducing stress. Just good stuff for me to know, which was helpful even when my oldest was 7/8 and I had to younger kids and thought I couldn't learn more about kids and sleep. YMMV.


This book is full of great guided meditation scripts: http://www.amazon.com/Starbright-Med...ref=pd_sim_b_1

With my dd at that age, I read them to her. Eventually, I made up my own guided meditation stories to tell her. She loved that-I just made sure to incorporate a lot of relaxing imagery. Usually I'd tell her a story in which she was a fairy or butterfly, and she'd fly through some place and see lots of color, feel the breeze on her skin, etc., then land and fall asleep. Simple and relaxing.


This one has both some guided meditation scripts, and some scripts/instructions for learning relaxation exercises like belly breathing and progressive muscle relaxation: http://www.amazon.com/Relaxation-Str...mm_pap_title_0

What my dd likes best, at this point in time, are CDs or audio tracks on ipod. This CD is really good, and is basically progressive muscle relaxation and visualization (it is geared, maybe, toward kids slightly younger, and includes a lullaby-but mine still liked it at age 9):
http://www.amazon.com/Floppy-Sleep-G...sr=1-1-catcorr

Guided meditation/visualization we've downloaded from iTunes:

Time Out for Dreamers podcast, Patti Teel (free)

Guiding Star Meditation from Meditation for Children and Teens podcast by Stin Hansen (free)

Rest and Sleep: Help Child Drift off to Sleep Feeling Calm and Reassured by Lynda Hudson ($-whole audiobook)

Relax Kids Nature: Enchanting Meditations for All Ages ($-available as single tracks-each track is a single meditation lasting about 4 minutes)

Guided Meditations for Children: Journey Into the Universe by Chitra Sukhu ($-available as single tracks 7-10 minutes long)

[grumo]

wow Magella. So many resources. Thanks a bunch.

[meemee]

do you have the time yourself to invest in this?

i have a 7 year old who has the same issues as a baby. plus anxiety makes it worse.

what has helped are two things. night cuddling time. back and face massage as i tell her stories. i darken the room and we talk. its our one on one time together.

do you plan to do the meditations with your dd?

also dd reads in bed. that really helps relax her. i give her at least half an hour to read. she really enjoys reading. but i have to be careful or she could be up half the night.

[LadyCatherine185]

Have you read the book Sleepless in America? I read it for my toddler, but it is actually geared more towards children than babies/toddlers.