She has always been a very good sleeper. However, for the past 3 weeks she has been having trouble sleeping at night. She doesn't seem to want to sleep in her bed and she's waking up throughout the night. She comes into my room at least 2-3 times in the middle of the night. I've asked if she's afraid of something or is having bad dreams but she says no. I have asked what's making her wake up or what is wrong and she just says she doesn't know. We've asked if she's happy at school/home and she says yes. Sometimes she complains of a stomach ache, but I don't know if that's just her waying of trying to get me to let her sleep with me or let her sleep in TV room (right outside my bedroom). Also, her hair is noticeably thinner (not balding or anything but just thinner). I'm very concerned. Any ideas? Is this normal for a child her age?
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Q: My 8 year old daughter is suddenly having trouble sleeping?
I wish someone would have answered this because I am going through basically the same thing with my 8 year old girl. She complains mostly that she can't get to sleep and when I refuse to give in and let her sleep on the couch then it turns into a stomache ache. I find it very frustrating. She never has been a great sleeper. I used to blame it all on the fact that I breast fed her for quite a while...3 1/2 years...but we quit middle of the night feedings way before that. She still would wake me up though even though we didn't nurse. For a while sleeping for her had been OK...she's never been the best sleeper...now I'm dealing with this and I'm really tired of the bedtime drama. She seems like she's scared,but she has a night light and nothing I say seems to calms her fears. She has to know what I'm going to be doing while she's in bed...she can't stand the thought of everyone going to bed at the same time and maybe she is going to be the only one awake. I would be interested in knowing what has happened with your daughter since you posted your comment looking for help...is she any better at going to sleep????HELP!!
Little Rock Mom...I hope your daughter is not starting through puberty yet....that has been a fear of mine. My daughter has commented on girls who are her friends excluding her from play at school and it is heartbreaking. We have an older son who has been in the Navy for 4 years. When our daughter's bedtime woes continued through the winter and summer months, we decided to experiment and let her sleep in his unoccupied room. His room is also closer to our bedroom. So far it has been working. She gets up in the middle of the night to go to the restroom and goes back to bed. She is 9 now. If she happens to see something upsetting on TV,it will affect her ability to go to sleep. I try to protect her from that. Also,you never know what other kids are saying to your child that can scare them. Once I noticed that the bedtime fear had escalated and when I questioned her about what was going on...she denied anything was on her mind....but it was apparent to me that something had happened. The next evening when I was getting her ready for bed I decided to slip into our conversation what had happened at bedtime the night before. She finally confided in me that a friend told her,that her cousin told her, that when you go to bed at night that there is a man that comes into your house and kills you! Nice,huh? I reassured her and she was better that night....but I thought,of all children to tell this to....with her sleep problems anyway and then someone tells her this. I hope you find the help that you need for your daughter. I know it is frustrating as a mother to not be able to make everything better. I hope that the counseling works. Good Luck.
I am the "Worried Mom" who originally posted this question. I am happy to say that my daughter is back to being the good sleeper she has always been. It was a rough month or so when we were going through this, but it did pass. It took a lot of talks with my daughter to finally get her to admit that she was scared. Turns out she was at Grandma's before this started happening and Grandma was watching The Ghost Whisperer. This particular episode which had to do with "Bloody Mary" really affected her and her little sister didn't help because she was turning in circles saying "bloody Mary, bloody Mary, bloody Mary" just like they talked about on the show. Once we got to the root of the problem we had a long talk about TV shows and how they are just actors and none of it is real. I now know that my daughter cannot watch any kind of scary movies or shows and Grandma knows she can't watch them when my daughter is there. 
I hope this helps those of you who are going through this now. I wish you all the best and many sweet dreams for your children.
Hi,
Its really a bad news for you.you should take a lot of care for her try to search what she has problem?
i think she fall any series disease, may be she afraid some one, or may be she saw some thing bad which is caused of dameged her brain?
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I am having the exact same issue with my daughter. She is also 8...also complains of a stomach ache at night...also wants to sleep with me or her little sister. I sort of know what her issue is from talking to her. This is the 3rd week of school and this year she is having trouble fitting in and connecting with other girls at school. She had a lot of friends last year, but this year she is putting way too much thought into it to the point of driving kids away. (She wants constant confirmation from them that they are 'still' her friend). I think that the issues at night at anxiety related since this issue started around the same time as the first week of school. We are going to take her to her pediatrician and work with her on making friends and see if it helps. If not, we'll see if she can get into some sort of counseling. I have done a lot on my part to help her....made friends with her friends' mom's and have set up play dates. She plays fine on the play dates but once she gets to school she says these same kids play with other kids and won't play with her. It's very heartbreaking. I've began working at the school in the mornings befor the bell rings this week before going to my usual job, and I've observed that she is trying too hard. She'll sit next to a kid and just start rambling and they can't keep up with her. Then she'll ask them to be her friend and they ignore her. This morning she changed seats several times. She is a beautiful girl and shouldn't be having this issue but her social skills suddenly have gone out the window. I will say that I've also noticed signs of early puberty...so I am wondering if this is hormone related and will ask her doctor when we go see her.