Ugh, it happened another night. I think she is getting sleep anxiety. I think (unfortunately) if it keeps happening this much, H might feel differently about the melatonin. At any rate, we'd need the dosing; it was around a year ago I called about it, and now my daughter has grown so much, she is the size of a small adult woman, 5'1" tall, just over 100 lb.

H would have the time to call the pediatrician's office himself and speak with the doctor or a nurse who can relay a message from the doctor. Given that my daughter is not on any medications except the occasional children's Claritin and no prescription meds, he case should be easier with the doctor.

Worst comes to worst, if we have to see the pediatrician, we will. First, I'd just have H call there with the problem instead of relaying what the doctor and nurse may say secondhand. If we have to see the pediatrician in person, I know he would come too and hear what the doctor says. We have been seeing her since my daughter was a newborn, so we are all comfortable with her. I think if it does get so bad a psychiatrist or therapist becomes necessary, H will finally give in though I am sure he'd go for the therapy route first since it won't involve medication.

As far a psych trauma, my daughter does have some. My husband has had some periods of unemployment where we didn't know how we'd afford to pay the mortgage on the house. Before his current job, he could only find work teaching high school physics, which doesn't have the greatest take home pay even if it looks good on paper before deductions, and it had really bad insurance. We kept having to think about moving, and it was upsetting to him even, so we had to let her know about it. There is me as a mother with all my psych issues and medications (with side effects), dealing with hypomania, mania, depression at times. Feb. 14 last year, she had to call H home when I got a perforated ulcer (it was a silent ulcer, no symptoms, so I didn't even know I had it), and she saw me loaded into an ambulance as I passed out, which prompted H to call 911. This made our finances even worse and strained our marriage. So while she has never had verbal, physical or mental abuse, she's had some trauma. H and I usually do not fight in front of her, though it has happened a few times (maybe 2, 3 times in a couple of years), but it's all verbal at least, not physical and stress has played a huge role in that. So maybe she'd need a child therapist though I think H would first want to consider natural things that can be done at home.

We need a better bedtime/wake up routine, to add a relaxation period before bed, get her to exercise a bit, even if it's walking around the block with one of us (not that she is overweight, but for the benefits of exercise), get her doing something besides playing computer games (though neither H nor I can seem to lure her away from that), try things like maybe a hot soak in the tub before bed. I have even considered getting her a weighted blanket, though I have not brought that idea up to H. She does have all those sensory issues, and it might help her. One of those might even help me. Lately we have stopped screen time 1 hr. before she goes to bed, but it doesn't seem to be working. I am starting to think we need to limit screen time, period, much as she would hate it.

And what can you do to ease sleep anxiety?