When Your Twelve-Year-Old Is Wide Awake at Bedtime

Where to start

• Try a slightly later bedtime until your child falls asleep quickly, with the waking time fixed.
• Then bring bedtime earlier, fifteen to thirty minutes every couple of nights.
• Keep the bed for sleep, and phones and screens out of the bedroom overnight.
• If nothing has improved after a few weeks, or your child is very sleepy in the day, or they are sleeping badly and are low or worried in a way that doesn’t lift, talk to your GP. A national sleep helpline gives advice on children’s sleep, to parents and to young people themselves. The Sleep Charity, 03303 530 541. Mon and Wed 9am-11am; Tue and Thu 7pm-9pm; closed bank holidays and over Christmas. Outside those hours the line is closed. Samaritans answer at any hour on 116 123, and Shout answer if you text the word SHOUT to 85258.

The rest of the tip, and why it works, is in the library.

Sources

Evelina London Children’s Hospital (Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust), How to sleep well for teenagers; The Sleep Charity, Teen Sleep Hub: Back to school, how to reset without feeling awful (2026); The Sleep Charity, Bedtime Routines (updated September 2026); NHS Every Mind Matters, Looking after a child or young person’s mental health (updated September 2026)

It goes with

• The Hour Before Bed. For parents whose child’s bedtime has turned into an hour of worries, questions and meltdowns.
• The Move to Secondary School. For parents whose child is about to go from being one of the oldest at school to one of the youngest.

The first chapter you open here is free to read in full.

Free on this subject

• Sleep. What to do first, what helps, and who else can help. Free to read and to print.
• Puberty. What to do first, what helps, and who else can help. Free to read and to print.