adolescent insomnia?

[topaz]

So, my eldest boy has trouble falling asleep.  No big deal.  He gets it from me.  I don't deal well with enforced bedtimes -- I go to sleep when I'm tired and not before.  As a child I would often turn my lights on after bedtime and read myself to sleep, a process which could take a couple of hours.  I read to Morgan at bedtime, and it usually takes at least 45 minutes for him to relax enough to fall asleep.

Last Saturday, while staying over at his grandparents' house, he stayed awake all night.  After everyone else had gone to sleep, and he was still awake, Morgan turned on a light to read.  When his grandmother woke up at 5am, Morgan told her he'd been up reading and asked her to make him some breakfast.  He finally conked out at about 4:30pm Sunday afternoon and slept straight through until 7am Monday.

Until now I haven't worried much about this -- like I said, I've been there -- but as I don't think it was ever quite this bad for me, this incident made me sit up and take notice.

So, anyone have any experience with pre-adolescent insomnia?  Suggestions for ways to help a kid learn deliberate relaxation or how to fall asleep?  I'm thinking that making a CD or an MP3 playlist of soothing music (or audiobooks) might help, but I'm especially interested in skills he can learn to help himself get to sleep when music or other external aids aren't available.

Comments

[innerdoggie.livejournal.com]

What did you do to cope with your own insomnia? Would that work for Morgan?