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[quote=Anonymous]Posting this in general forum in the hopes that parents of older kids might see it and have ideas, because my husband and I are at the end of our ropes.

My four year old will not fall asleep before 9:30 at night.  We can’t leave her alone in her room bc she flips out wildly and she moves around the entire time and cries that her body won’t stay still for an hour+ until she passes out.  Once she has stopped moving for 15 seconds I know she is asleep, that is how sudden it is and how much she moves around.

We make sure she is active during the day (wake up at 6:30, full day of pre-k, soccer or tumbling after school, constant running around the house when she is home, no naps obviously).  We try to keep a routine at night - bath, teeth, book, low lights, etc. - but it’s almost like that winds her up more somehow.

Does anyone have ANY ideas or success stories on how to improve this???  My husband and ai both work full time jobs and we have no time at all at night to even watch a show together, let alone deal with just administrative life stuff that we need to discuss.  (When she is awake she demands 100% of our attention, it’s impossible to do anything else but deal with her, every two minutes she’s in our faces about something and screaming/crying/whining if we don’t.). I’m falling behind at work bc I need to catch up at night and I can’t because my kid needs so much attention late into the evening.  I’m really losing my mind.

I don’t want to just lock her in her room and let her scream (both bc that seems cruel and we have an 18 month old right next door who thank god does go to sleep at a normal time).  But if you have had to resort to this, did it even work?  I hate even thinking of this but I don’t know what else to do.  And she needs more sleep than she is getting but she just won’t relax and wind down until she drops from exhaustion.

My child has been diagnosed with ADHD and ASD through a neuropsych exam, so please keep in mind - we have of course tried things like routines, more activity, etc. (I read responses sometimes that are like “well you just have to tell your kid they have to and clearly you aren’t controlling your child if they disobey you” - that just doesn’t work for my kid, and I’m honestly extremely extremely envious of those of you with easier kids where that works.)

Sorry for the huge post and thanks for any help or ideas anyone has.  I’m exhausted.[/quote]

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