One of my 11 year olds (she has a twin and twin younger siblings) has recently been having very disrupted sleep.
She will mostly fall asleep ok, but if she wakes up at all overnight for any reason she is up in our room waking me up and crying about not being able to get back to sleep. I’m patient the first 1-2 times but the constant up and down and waking me up every 10 minutes at 2 am means I’m not very patient after the first wake-up.
I don’t know how to stop this panic response and subsequent seeking me out over and over. I know it’s an anxiety spiral and probably exacerbated by impending puberty. I don’t know how to make her stop (and us yelling at each other in the middle of the night is not helpful to her or anyone in the house).
I thought we were doing better, we created sticky notes if grounding mantras (I am heathy and ok, mommy is nearby etc). We have excellent sleep hygiene, same bedtime almost every night, no devices an hour before bed, no caffeine, plenty of exercise.
I’m at my wits end and need something else to try. Last night it got bad and I had to resort to threatening that she would lose out on a birthday party if she left her room again. She has to stay in bed to get to sleep, but outside of threats I don’t know how to make that happen. In the light of day she just says she doesn’t know WHY she gets up other than that she’s anxious and needs me. Help 😩