My 8yo daughter has ADHD & OCD. Tonight she told me that she sometimes gets sad and cries even if something hasn't gone wrong and that she can't get to sleep at night. I don't know how to help her. I used to feel like that at her age and I hate seeing her going through this. Any ideas?

I too used to cry at night. Somtimes for a reason and somtimes not. I think finding it hard to fall asleep is an agony for a child. I remeber lieing for hours trying so hard to sleep and knowing how much trouble i would be in if i got up.

My daughter is also 8 and has ADHD.
I lie with my daughter when she cant sleep and hug her when she feals sad.
I would make sure she has a light to read by or some quiet activity.

If it takes me too long to fall asleep i get very grouchy and down, mostly because i am keenly aware of how little sleeping time i have left before i have to face the hoards again.

There are natural, safe sleep remedies that you can take, dunno if you want to go there or not... my wife takes Valerian most nights.

I always had trouble going to sleep as a child, I would stay awake between one and five hours EVERY night after getting into bed.

When you a leave a preteen alone in the dark for one to five hours every night, I think you have to understand that they are going to have some depressing moments. :(

When our kids can't sleep, we let then lie in bed and read. If we can, we try and pick somthing pretty low-key for them to read, not too stimulating. Not, too boring either, Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder might be just the speed for an eight year old girl. If the brain isn't ready to fall asleep, it just isn't ready. At least the body will get some rest.

I did a lot of reading in those hours, and a lot of listening to the radio as well...

Have you tried a bedtime ritual? I'll give you both of my children's ritual's; but, your daughter's will be much different.

Dakota 10 ADHD/Deep depresion Bedtime: 9:00 p.m.
At about 7:00 he will sit down with his headphones on and practice his stretching excercise's for yoga,,,takes about an hour but the stretching excercise's alone are very relaxing. Then he soaks in a hot bath for about 30 minutes, after a backrub he usually settles right down and is ready for bed.

Lexi ADHD
We start her early at about 6:00 we start reminding her that it will soon be bedtime and keep reminding her about every 20 minutes. She will then take her bath which is usually about an hour long lol. She then lay's in bed and reads until light's out. After about 20 minutes of mommy can I get up she'll fall asleep.

Just work with your daughter find thing's that calm her and help her relax perhaps that will help. Good Luck!!!!!!!

Amazingly enough, I put an ioniser in her room and it's done the trick.