DD has insomnia

[craft_media_hero]

So my 7yo dd has always has never had an easy time falling asleep and staying asleep, but recently it seems to have gotten much worse, along with increasing anxiety (both before bed and during the day) and daytime moodiness (which I think is 'coz she's cranky and tired).

I'm posting this here because I think that there may be something underlying that you all may be able to help me figure out.

I'm interested in methods to help her get to sleep, but really really want to figure out how to address why she has this problem in the first place.

Some background:

-We eat a pretty healthy vegetarian diet (eggs or cheese nearly daily, though), very little sugar, and zero caffeine for her. Every once in a while she'll have iced tea at a restaurant but really that's it. She gets outside and plays in the sunshine every day but probably doesn't get strenuous exercise.

-She takes a kids multi, learning factors (omegas/oils), and D3 almost daily, and we just started Bioplasma cell salts 1-2/day. I've been giving her one 30x coffea cruda homeopathic remedy before bed this week, but I don't know if that's right, and I want her to be able to fall asleep without it (it does seem to help, though). Could it be that she needs Calcium?

-Her bedtime is usually right around 8pm, and she wakes around 8am regardless of what time she falls asleep. We'll put her gently to bed at 8 and she will be awake 3hrs (sometimes +) later--it's pretty heartbreaking, actually, not to mention stressful on all of us.

Anyway, if you have any help here, I really need it. I'm worried about my daughter, and I don't feel like this is healthy for her. Besides this, she doesn't have any health issues.

Thanks so much if you made it this far and are able to respond, I really truly appreciate anything to help me get her into a good sleep pattern.

[craft_media_hero]

 ?

[Daffodil]

Maybe she just doesn't need 12 hours of sleep?  That seems like kind of a lot for a 7 year old.  Even my 5 year old doesn't sleep that much.  My 8 year old DD also tends to have a hard time getting to sleep and staying asleep, but I'm afraid I don't have any insight into the cause of it.  (She's been like that her whole life.)  I do notice that sugar tends to keep her from sleeping well, and exercise seems to help.  I'd say 10 hours of sleep is about the right amount for her.  If she stays up really late or wakes during the night and has a hard time going back to sleep, she usually sleeps later in the morning to make up for it.  If your DD is able to sleep as long as she wants in the morning, and she doesn't ever sleep in really late, I'd guess she's probably getting enough sleep. 

[tanyalynn]

Magnesium was the first thing I found to help DD fall asleep.  She was younger/littler than yours and needed at least 100 mg/day.

Anxiety can relate to serotonin levels, can I find that page?  ...

http://www.detoxpuzzle.com/serotonin.php

And serotonin + a methyl group makes melatonin, which helps us sleep.  You could try an end run around that and try some supplemental melatonin and see if that helps, and if so, go back to working on stuff to make more serotonin or more methyl groups, or both.  Kids usually start at 1/2 or 1 mg of melatonin--you can search here or in Special Needs for discussion of starting it, I had very vivid dreams the first few nights, but my kids just fell asleep easier.