1-2 hrs for 5yo to fall asleep?

[applecider]

Is this normal? DS sleeps in his own bed and EVERY night is a major hassle. He just lies there and fidgets/squirms FOREVER. By this point my almost 2yo has already fallen asleep in my bed and I go back to DS to snuggle (that's the deal) but frankly, I can only stay there for a few minutes before I get totally irritated. And then he won't stop talking either!! Anyone else have this problem? I've also been thinking that he maybe has sensory issues so I suppose this might be related? Also, it doesn't matter if he had tons of exercise, it still takes this long for him to fall asleep. We do calms forte for kids and it doesn't seem to help. What about melatonin? Would that be a bad idea?

[ssh]

How many hours is your DS sleeping per day? Maybe he's not tired yet or he's overtired and can't settle. Do you have any fun relaxing before bed activities? You could let him stay up until he goes to sleep then see when he wakes on his own to see what his natural sleep cycle looks like, adjust his bedtime and wake time so he's getting the amount of sleep he actually uses, then do the fun relaxing activity right before his going to sleep. My almost 5 year old DD sleeps 10 or 11 hours, and needs to be up 14 hours to be able to go to sleep, and needs about 20 to 30 minutes of winding down activity. If she goes to bed at a time that matches her sleep cycle she goes to sleep in minutes. If we try to put her to bed earlier than 14 hours she just doesn't sleep. If we need to adjust her bedtime we get her up 15 minutes earlier everyday until her bedtime is when we need it.

[applecider]

Yes, we do bathroom, teeth, jammies, books then lights out. First I lay with him for a bit (with ds2), then I go to my bed and put ds to sleep (takes like 10 and he doesn't even nurse to sleep!). Then I go back to ds1 bed and lay for a while longer until I just can't take it anymore. Or sometimes I just say I will lay for x minutes and then I'm going back to my bed. Our rooms are connected.

If I let him stay up I'm sure he would be up till midnight or so! Which I can't do now because he's in K. Even when he was a toddler, the child would not go to sleep. I had to wear him in a sling till he was 2!!

For instance, tonight I did all of the above, then I came downstairs to have some time to myself and he just came downstairs and said he had to poop! Which he did not. I can still hear him up there rolling around and kicking the wall. Talking to himself. It's been an hour and 40 min since I turned out the light. I don't like having to wake him up in the am to go to school, that's why I want him to go to bed at a decent hour so when 7:30 rolls around, he wakes up naturally.

[raelize]

we have the same problem. dh and i jsut had an argument over who had to put dd to sleep tonight. occasionally she will fall asleep quickly, but usually it is close to 2 hours.
our problem is that if she doesn't get enough sleep she is a beast the next day. and letting her sleep as long as she wants in the morning doesn't really work, cause she usually wakes up around the same time - 9ish anyway. if we have plans for the day they are shot. and if i let her sleep in later, her schedule turns into 11 pm go to bed, 11 am wake up. that would ruin our days, it would totally ruin dh and i from having any sort of non-kid time, and there is also dd2 who sleeps from 7pm-8am. she shouldn't have to lose her day just cause dd1 can't fall asleep at night.
she has always been a terrible sleeper. 95% of the time she ends up in our bed anyway, which i don't care about, except when we have spent 2 hours getting you to sleep, i don't want you showing up an hour after i am in bed stealing all the space.
if we do the whole, "i'll be back in 5 minutes," she just keeps herself awake until one of us relents and lays down with her. she kept herself up till midnight doing this.
also, if we don't lay down with her she will keep getting up cause she's lonely.
i read that it isn't a great idea to give kids melatonin regularly. but i am interested in giving her magnesium. i read that it is important for sleep and that few of us have enough of it.
but- any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!!