I’ve mentioned a few times that my daughter has always been a terrible sleeper. She didn’t sleep through the night until she was 2 and a half (and by “through the night” I mean from my bedtime until morning, I’m not talking 12 hours) and even then it wasn’t very often that she would actually go all night. 

She is now 8 and once she’s asleep she’s fine, but getting her to go to sleep can be almost impossible, more often than not she’s going to sleep in our bed. I have tried so many different techniques that I thought I would share them with you, in the hope that one of them works for you. 

• Sleepy stories; I love these! They are special stories with hypnotic suggestive phrases to help you fall asleep. They worked for a while with bethany and she still uses them, but it doesn’t work every day. 
• Lavender sleep spray; encourages relaxation and a soothing environment for sleep. 
• Projection light; these project stars onto the ceiling. It gives you something to look at and distract your busy mind from thinking thinking thinking!
• Massage; I attended a local back massage course and learnt some techniques to soothe and encourage sleep. 
• Breathing techniques; I found an article online which described breathing techniques for bethany to try. So far she has refused to try them. 
• We even went to far as to buy a new mattress and new pillow for her. 

I asked some fellow bloggers for further ideas to try and these were suggested:

• Emma suggested these Sleep Music CDs 
• Terri, from The Strawberry Fountain suggested trying a sleeping bag, as many babies like to be swaddled to sleep and the sleeping bag acts like a swaddle for older children and to try a sleep diary or watch style sleep tracker, to help her clear her mind and track her sleep herself. 
• Hannah Amphlett Suggests an audio tape to drown out other distractions. 
• Sonia from Buzy Mum suggested brain gym exercises to help clear the mind. 

Hopefully something works soon, as poor bethany is often still awake when I go up to bed and that is really not enough sleep for an 8 year old!