I would talk to your doctor as no sleep also brings on depression and other behavioral things as well. My son who is 8 also has trouble settling his tic at night. We tell him to lay in the same position each night, tic when needed and then reposition. We have practiced deep breathing and slowing things down to get the body ready to sleep.

Some night are not great even with his routine in place, so we lay with him. I realize an older child wouldn't like that but what we do is drape an arm around him for pressure. He clunks out pretty soon there after. Has he tried any type of pressure: heavy blanket?
Sometimes the pressure also helps the body relax.

I think too going to bed so late also feeds it, he's over-tired when he attempts sleep or passes out from exhaustion. They do have sleep clinics as well that may help sort this out. Good luck!

My son uses melatonin to help him get ready for bed. IT is a natural sleep aid.

thanks for your reply. We have been to sleep clinics and they have reported that they see nothing unusual in his sleep patterns, however they do acknowledge the difficulties he had getting to sleep. At eight, we didn't have any sleep problems they have gotten worse with age and with an increase in his tics. I suspect his adhd brain is also keeping him up. As he says his mind is very active at night and wont let him sleep. I have sugested and tried all sorts of things for him to do, but nothing seems to work. We have tried medications but then he has the zombie effects the next day. I havent tried the heavy blanket yet, it is very hot in queensland and he probably wouldn't cope well with something heavy on him. Seems like we can't win. Thanks for your suggestions though.

We went to the sleep clinci with my 4 year old they told us the same thing they told you.. The Dr. told me to use melatonin it wok at first but when he starts ticing it take over and does not sleep it wakes him up. My son tics are worse at night. Are your son? My son sleep about 4 hours a night. Does your son have ocd and adhd with his tourette?

my daughter is 10.. she just now fell asleep.. night time is horrific for her-us.. her tics come on very strong.. she has anxiety and ocd with rep thoughts at bed time so even when she is completely tired and ready to sleep her thoughts and tics keep her awake.. even when she sleeps she is not getting quality sleep.. nor quantity.. she is pale and bags under her eyes. I will tell you that she does better with "routine" and heat helps her with the pain from the tics.. I lay with her as someone else mentioned but again at your childs age that may not work.. I notice that tv distracts her and helps her fall asleep ( going on night three with that one).. although she never used tv before and others frown on it (as I do) it really is helping.. I am at my witts end as well trying to find sleep aide.. I use calms forte (all natural) before bed an I know it helps as it was ten times worse when we did not use it.
Hope that helps in any way.

Thanks to all who replyed to my post. I recently orderded melatonin from America and have been using it for about 10 days now. My son says that it is really working for him and he can really tell that it helps to put him to sleep. I'm really happy with Melatonin and suggest that anyone with sleeping problems gives it a go.

The body does become accustomed to melatonin fairly quickly so make sure to suggest to him that he not take it every night. If he notices that it's not working anymore, he needs to take a break from it for a while.

AnneC, again -- pulling this post about sleep, as well. You may want to go to the posts around 11/09 as this is where the posts are about sleep that I recall reading back then.

Recently my son who is 8, started not being able to fall asleep. He has to be held or laying with us. Many times he says he didn't sleep at night and he has been falling asleep everyday in school. Thankfully he has a great teacher who understands our current situation and lets him sleep. So even though I don't want him watching tv before he falls asleep, he says it helps. Not sure though. He also tics alot when he is falling asleep. There have been nights when he sleeps for 13+hours because he is so exhausted. We haven't tried melatonin yet, waiting to go back to the psychiatrist.

Hope this is helpful or at least you'll know that we are in it together.

try gabepintin