Help my almost 4yr old go to sleep!

[luli13]

DD turns 4 in April. She is a good listener, respectful and generally wants to please us and follow our rules. We have been having a really hard time getting her to fall asleep lately. Probably for the last month to 2 months. We have the same bedtime routine we have always had (with a few tweaks here and there that ill talk about later). We brush teeth, read a book, talk about our day and what we are going to do the next day. Then we turn on a CD for her to listen to (this is new to give her something to listen to and relax to go to sleep). We give her 15 minutes with the hall light on to look at a book or play with her stuffed animals and then we say lights out. She has been staying awake for 1 to 1.5 hours longer in her room!

She no longer naps. We start the going to bed process at 7:15. We have played around with shifting bedtime but it hasn't made a difference. She goes to preschool three days a week. She has soccer, dance and play dates on her off days. She yawns in the evening! I know she is tired. She has recently been talking a lot about her pretend friends and even mentioned that she has trouble falling asleep because she is playing with them. I think she just has trouble "turning off". Last week she had a dry cough so I was giving her a dose of night time Zurbees cough syrup. It has melatonin in it and she fell asleep those three nights within 20 minutes. No problems with calling down to us, needing to go to the bathroom, her toe nails need trimmed, etc... I think she's a little young for an all natural sleep aid, right??

Any BTDT or ideas/tips to get her to settle in earlier. We have used a sticker chart, a goody bag, laying with her for a few minutes to calm her (not a great idea-she asked for more, then would nearly melt down when we left).

[socaintexas]

I'll be following this thread with interest. Hope you get some good advice!

[123LuckyMom]

With DS, we cut out playing so close to bed time. Our bedtime routine is bath, pjs, teeth, potty. Then he gets one or two books out of bed. Then he has to get into bed and keep his head on the pillow. Sometimes he gets one more book in bed. Then it is lights out. We say prayers, and I tell him a story in a lulling voice while I nurse DD down. When I leave the room, he can listen to stories or music if he wants to (he chooses, and I put it on. He cannot control the player himself.) The rule is that he does not have to go to sleep, but he must stay in bed with the lights out and be quiet. He does keep the lights out. He is quiet. Sometimes I go in to tend to DD, and the contents of his bookshelf are in piles on the floor, or some such nonsense. On the whole, though, forcing the physical inactivity in a darkened room for some time before he is expected to sleep has really helped. I would try cutting out that play time with the hall light on and finding a more lulling, darkened transition for her.