5 Year Old Not Waking Up

I have a 5 year old that has to be up at 6:30 to get ready for school and he is in bed around 7:30 every night. He is usually asleep by not later than 8:30 and he has not been hard to get up in the morning at all. I think that they are getting worn out at school so they are more tired at night. I do not think that 7 pm is to early.

Hello no 7 is not to early to go to bed my nephew is 9 he still goes to bed at 7 school wears these kids out he asks if he can go when my kids were little at 6:00 pm they got their bath either watch a calm movie or read no gameboys nothing that gets them hyper they start winding down and soon as it was time for bed they were asleep in no time somekids need more sleep

It sounds like he's still tired. Try moving it forward by 30minutes until you've found a time that seems to help him get the sleep he needs. Good-luck!

Nope!! I totally agree with you. I have to do it sometimes. I have a 6 year old boy who just refuses to get out of bed. Then his father and I sit down with him and explain to him that he needs to get up and go to school. We explain to him that if this becomes a routine that he will go to bed earlier. We also explain to him that if he continues that we will take some things away from him. Yes unfortunately we have started the grounding stage. I sound like my mother now!! LOL Start little and work your way up. Good luck to ya!!

~S.

My kids get 12 hours of sleep most nights. We put them to bed at 7:00, which gets later in the summer. Its really hard in the summer, but in the winter it works well. They're usually ready for bed by then.

my 5 yr old granddaughter hates to get up for school in the morning too. i think it is a stage they go through. it doesnt matter what time she goes to bed she still doesnt want to get up. wish ya luck.

My son just turned 6 and is in Kindergarden. I try to get him to bed by 7:30pm. He is just so worn out that he falls asleep quickly. Sometimes he and his brother (age 2) play a little until 8pm, but on school nights he usually falls asleep right away. The boys wake up on their own a little before 7am. I think that school just takes a lot out of the young ones, so putting your 5 year old to bed early may help.

I dont think 7 is too early since he is just laying there any way. Is he watching TV or is there something special he likes to do in the morning. I had to tell my son no we cant do this or do that because you are not getting up and you are making us late. If you want to do such and such you need to get up in the morning. It seems to have worked

my name is M. and my son is 11 years old and he goes to bed at 7:00pm and he is a hard child to get up but he gets up easier when he is in bed at 7 then when he goes to bed later. some kids are just heavy sleepiers I have three children and they all are diffrent my oldiest is 13 and she'll sleep all day and my youngest is 9 and she is up at 5:00am. my son will sleep until 9am if I let him. I think kids are all diffrent and your son will be ok.Maybe he is just really active and needs alittle more sleep then most.

Depending on your child and the schedule that you and your husband keep, your son may be getting too much sleep. I know that sounds crazy, but my husband and I don't require a lot of sleep - however we were putting our 6 year old daughter to bed early and allowing her the recommended 10 hours of sleep and she was a bear to get up in the morning. We noticed on the weekends when she stayed up later, that she woke up on her own in the morning, and was in a much better mood. We now put her to bed at 9:30, she is asleep by 10, and then up at 7, and she is much easier to wake up in the morning. I would try this on a weekend and see what happens, but then again, maybe he needs more sleep. Our neighbors child goes to bed between 7-7:30 (but he gets up at 5am also!).
Hope this helps,
J.

During school time 7 isn't early to go to bed for children this young.There up early have school,play time at home they get tired still especially if they go all day Kindergarten.Try it for a few week's it can't hurt,maybe morning's will get easier on you.I put my son to bed at 8 he's 4 not in school yet he's up before me every morning.

You could always send him to school in his pjammas for being late...I've seen it work at our elementary school and the kids finally get with the program...

Just a thought-does he have large tonsils or adenoids? If he is a mouth breather, he may have breathing disturbances at night that are causing him to have restless sleep. My daughters tonsils are large. When she was younger, she would have some difficulty breathing appropriately when sleeping. Occasionally, she would stop or sound "gargly". The ped. recommended to monitor it-no sleep tests were conducted. We have used breath right strips for kids-which has helped. We also bought her a side sleeper pillow b/c she sleeps on her side. She seems to be okay now. She gets up pretty normal. [Her tonsils are not too big to necessitate removing them and she doesn't get sick much.]
What kind of work are you looking for?

You are correct in knowing that the difficulty getting him out of bed is a sure sign that he is not sleeping enough or not getting quality sleep. Most children his age need 10-12 hours of sleep per night. The more active, the more they often require. Not getting enough sleep poses many risks. It can stunt growth, decrease mental ability and increase his chances for childhood obesity--to name a few.

What time does he have to be ready for school? Is there any chance that you can wake him up later in the morning?

No, 7pm is not too early, but you will have to have all your children going to bed at the same time. It will be difficult with summer approaching but there is nothing more important than sleep. The ritual will have to start earlier in the evening and you should expect it to take about 30-45 min. You will want them to avoid TV, loud music, and the computer at least one to two hours before bedtime; this is a great time to read to your children. Also, stat dimming the lights to get your family ready for sleep. Caffeine should be avoided six hours prior to bedtime which means that 12pm would be the last time he could have soda/tea.

A great book for you to educate yourself about sleep is Power Sleep by Dr. Maas. Chapter 12 is great. It is a fantastic resource for you to utilize and you can pass this great advice on to your children. Keep in mind that a person that is well rested will wake naturally without an alarm or a mother.

Your pediatrician can be your best resource so I would consult with he/she to help you with your concerns. Most sleep problems are poor sleep habits; however, some children have obstructive sleep apnea so if he is snoring or gasping and waking himself up at night, he may not be reaching the important deeper stages of sleep which could be why he is not well rested. Keep in mind that many children snore so you will want to exhaust the sleep habits before jumping to a medical reason. This link is a good resource to learn about OSA. http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/sleep/a/sleep_apnea.htm

Good luck!

M., i have a 6yr old boy and he was hard to get up in the morning as well and when i talked to the doctor he said that kids this age need 10 to 11 hours of sleep a night. My son would lay in bed and talk to his brothers until they finally fell asleep. If you are concerned that he is not falling to sleep there is a natural sleep pill you can give him.it is melatonin. I bought mine at walmart in the vitamin aisle. It is only 3 mg so it not to strong and if that doesnt work then maybe talk to your doctor about this problem. I have three boys and a girl so in our house bedtime is 8:30pm. I give trevor his melatonin at dinner time so by 8:30 he is ready for bed and gets a good nights sleep. He now gets up at 6:30 am with no problem and his behavior have improved. Hope this is helpful.

My mom always opened the shades and let the daylight wake us up. When that didnt work, she would talk to us and ask us questions. When we had to think of the answers, it naturally woke us up. My dad on the other hand, just yelled "get out of bed". That did the trick, but my days always started off bad. When you wake up upset, the days are usually ruined.

could he be having a growth spurt and needing more sleep? my daughter is 3 1/2 and has recently started having this problem. she doesn't stay up late at all. i don't know what to do for her either. if i move bed time up, she's not tired yet and will not fall asleep until regular bed time.

I have three boys who up until their 7th bday had a 7pm bedtime. My boys are 11,9 and 7. The younger two are currently ready for bed at 7 and may read until 8, however the youngest still occassionally goes to bed earlier than 8. The 11 year old is allowed reading time until 830pm. Having the quiet reading time calms them and also gives my husband and I time to be with one another. There are occassional nights where this is not the case (i.e. church night) but for the most part it is the norm. Good luck

First of all stay a SAHM!!! I started doing lia sophia full time and am financially able to remain at home. If you want more info, let me know. It was nothing to start and I make almomst $1500 a month.

My 6 year old kindergartener does the same thing. So I backed the bedtime up to 7:30 in which he would actually get up a little better in the mornings. They have such a long day at school that they need the rest. Make sure he is not taking a nap in between as this will throw it way off. Plus, it always good to have that extra time for yourself, your younger baby or even your husband. You may try waking him up at 6:30 to make him a bit more tired at bedtime too.

Best wishes.

Yeah, I think 7:00 is too early especially with the time change and it being so light out at that time. I think you would be causing a battle you don't want to have. There's no way I could get my kids to go to bed that early by the time we have dinner, homework and baths etc.... it's already 7:00 then they have an hour to do what they want movie games etc.. My kids 6,5 & 3 go to bed at 8:00 also sometimes 8:30 if things don't go as planned. Thankfully my 6 yr old doesn't have much trouble getting up. I've had to wake him up at 7:00 since the time change. He used to be up before me. You might try getting him his own special alarm clock. My kids have a spiderman alarm clock that is "CRAZY". It's kind of loud but spider man walks up a wall and tries to catch a Villian and it says "You can't catch me SPIDERMAN". Put his alarm clock across the room and have him be responsible for turning it off. It might help.-----Good Luck-----J. C

First of all what is his diet like? Is he eating alot of sugary foods late in the day. If he has a snack after dinner make sure it is a high protein food and always start off the day with protein. It prevents energy highs and lows. 7:00 is definitely not too early for bed. At least aim for that and by the time he winds down he may actually get to sleep around 8:00 as you were hoping. Also there are a couple of accupressure points you can stimulate to soothe and to wake him. To soothe or calm him at night try this: Have your son lay quietly and tell him to close his eyes and listen to himself breathe. While he does this rub the top of his ear between your fingers for several minutes. To wake him: rub his sternum up and down vigorously. I am a mother of 3 and a Doctor of Chiropractic. If you have any questions I can be reached at ###-###-####. - DR. C

M.,

7:00pm is not too early to get him ready for bed. Give him time to wind down; no TV, a bath, a book, etc. By the time you do all this, it will probably be 7:45, and he should fall right to sleep. I have known many people who have done this. This also gives you more of a break in the evening and should cut down on the stress in the morning.

T. P.

Hi M. I am having the same sort of problem with my son.
His bedtime is 9 pm but by the time he gets done fiddle farting around it is 9:30, 10 pm and then he wants to be an A$$ in the morning.
It seems like when he is just sitting on the couch he is ready to fall asleep but once he goes to lay down in his bed, he decides he needs to "clean" his room. I am also looking at things that he is eating at night. I don't have junk food in the hose nothing like candy and cookies or anything but I am making sure he isn't drinking pop or anything sugary before bed. We also have a well balanced meal at every dinner, last night we had grilled pork chops, Chedder Broccoli rice, corn and mandarin oranges. He ate all of this but still wanted a snack an hour and a half later. What we have noticed though is that all of his jeans we bought him at the begining of this school year (which were to big) are now like 3 inches to short, so I'm wondering if one doesn't have to do with the other growing+more of an appetite = being hungry before bedtime and in return taking longer to fall sleep. I'm sorry I didn't really give much advice but more to let you know that you are not the only one going through this. I think also my son has a hard time shutting his mind down from the busy day. I think the one thing I am going to try is sending him to his room at 8:30 pm with a book and teeling him to read it and when it is over he has to lay down, I don't know if this may help.

assuming - this is not a medical issue with an underlying cause like sleep apnea that requires seeing a dr, then:

well at age five (though not necessarily under the age of three) I think the "LOve and Logic" approach to children is better, in most cases. Let him experience being late to school a couple of times. set it up with a friend or family member that you leave without him..or do something in the morning that has you from the house...and they take him late to school..and he "pays" for this either with allowance or a special toy that goes away for good.

of course this requires some advance discussion with him on your next steps if he doesn't find a way to solve the problem.

books I read say kids can start solving basic problems at age 4.5 years old...your son is a great age to start experiencing consequences of unwise choices.

My daughter has also been giving me trouble. She is just so tired. We have been dealing with this with all of our children since the beginning of the school year and we chose to move the bedtimes up to 7:30 p.m. It seems so early and makes our evenings rushed, but everyone is less cranky. I guess when summer comes, we might think of going back to later bedtimes when they can sleep in in the morning.