Child up all night, sleeping all day

this is a really difficult thing because he is bi-polar. as a rule id say wake em up but i know how hard it is to get up when feeling depressed and i tend to sleep more when i feel crappy too...but i was also having trouble sleeping through the night without waking up every couple of hours so i was feeling heaps tired all day. if you can get him to get up at a certain time every day for a week it would help his body clock but i guess hes gotta want to do it too. what does he do when he is up all night? maybe if you take those things away, he will go to sleep. maybe if there is something he likes doing during the day, you could organize it for a few days to get him up earlier. the only other thing i can suggest is that you talk to his therapist about it next time he goes and even consider getting sleeping tablets for him at night so he sleeps at a normal hour...only until his body gets used to it. thats what my doc did to try train my body to sleep through the night more again. also, maybe you could burn some essential oils where he is, lavender has relaxing properties to help sleep...(maybe you could look up aromatherapy for some mixes as my browser is being a snot at the moment and not working lol - strange seeing these pages are loading) good luck hon

hey just wondering if you have managed to get him into a better sleeping pattern yet or have tried any of the things everyone has suggested to try and help it... take care

My Daughter who is 4 was doing that. we just started keeping her up all day no matter how iratable she got now we are letting her play outside more and she has finaly started sleeping through the night. not the same situation

My son who was not bipolar, but was ADHD and bouts of depression, did this a lot in his teenage years. I usually let him sleep it off and it would be several days in a row where he stayed up late and slept all day. I did not disturb him and when he would wake up sometimes I would be gone, this upset him. Now if he was in school, he had to get up and go even if he had not slept all night. Part of it is the bipolar, ADHD, Depressions and meds. But a lot of it is being a child, whether a teenager or going through puberty this is just how they get sometimes. Good Luck on deciding whats best.

That has to be a difficult situation. Do you have him on any medication or anything? Maybe try a natural tea as a sleeping aid to get him on a schedule. LOL:)

i don't know how bipolars behave so it is best that you consult the doctor before trying out any of our advices. what i would suggest though is to encourage him to do activities that he truly enjoys during the day, may it be some sport, some games or any other stuff. the point here is he would voluntarily discipline himself to sleep early at night so that he can meet his appointment early the next day. hope this helps.

Talk to your doctor about it. There may be something that the doctor may be able to prescribe to get him back on track to sleeping at night and not the day. But I have to admit...I am like that. Not that I sleep all day and neglect my children. But I am grateful that they have school! :) I can not sleep at night either. There are times that I can not get to sleep until 4am! And it is not from me no trying. Last night, again, I didn't get to sleep until 4am and was back up at 7am to get the kids ready for school. But I refused to let myself take a nap in hopes that I will be able to get to bed by at least 2am tonight. If I take a nap though...and sometimes I just really can't help it...I will be up until it is almost time for them to get up from bed! It is a horrible cycle. But I really am a night person. If he was not always been like this...and I always have been...I would talk to his doctor and ask for advice or help.

Oh believe me I do know how this is. Bipolar runs in the family and my neice is as well. She has the big trouble with sleeping, always did. They have her on trazadone to help with her sleeping and it has done wonders for her. I saw where you said he's not going to the doctors for awhile so it's up to you to deal with it, fun I know. You can try calling them though and see if they will call in something or recommend something until he goes in like an Over the counter medication. Just make sure it won't interact with anything else he is on. You can try to keep him up and busy during the day. At night try giving him about an hour or so before a cup of warm milk (not chocolate just regular milk). Milk has a natural sedative in it and can make the body sleepy and having it warm just adds to it. Also things like chamomile tea can do this as well, you can add honey for taste and it will help the body to relax. Good luck for I know how this is and how hard it can be.