7 year old wakes up at 5:30am everyday

OP has said she has AUHD and he’s on a waiting list for the same.

My sister doesn’t allow screens until after a certain time or in the evenings.

Her kids are early risers and the weekends were a nightmare.

So she made a rule that they can go on the PlayStation in the mornings until she wakes up (as long as it’s after a certain time).

On the weekends she can sleep in as long as she likes as they creep around being quiet so they don’t wake her up :)

Some children need less sleep than others, my 14 year old has never slept more than five hours a night. We just have an agreement that he watches tv/goes on his phone till I get up at 6.30am been that way since he was seven before I used to get up but I was exhausted constantly, this works well for us. (He does have a diagnosis of a sleep disorder though and no amount of melatonin/adhd medication helped.)

My ds has adhd and has always had a different sleep cycle to the rest of us.

At bedtime we encouraged him to stay in his room and read and in the mornings he could get up quietly. As long as he wasn’t disturbing others it was ok. He was getting enough sleep for him.

He has now left home and I’m in the awful 3am peri wake up club! Yay for me.

It sounds like she’s active and that it’s not affecting her day? Just yours?

Op set him an alarm clock that you set and he can "get up then" set it for whatever time you get up.

I don't think the poster mentioned her son has ADHD.

Oh my @Imissgoldengrahamsthat can’t continue !!!
Getting in a strop, after waking you, clattering about and waking her siblings.
I think that deserves a thread of its own to get advice on tackling the behaviour.
Can you do a reward chart or something ?

Would sanctions of some kind work ?

Mine was like this. Whenever they were 5 we agreed that the only way she could get her hour of daily screen time was if she didn't wake anyone else up before an agreed time. If she managed to stay quiet, and not wake anyone up by reading in bed she would get to watch TV /use eher ipad that day.
If she woke anyone up, she would lose that privilege.
Obviously the first few times I implemented it there were huge fights. But it was worth it biggest from their on we had years of better sleep.

In England, melatonin usually has to be prescribed by a specialist - at least in the first instance. We've also tried melatonin and although it helped with getting to sleep it didn't have much impact on morning waking time.

If he is sleeping through, he should be okay, he needs his own clock shaded so he understands 6.am is the earliest, he can sit in bed.
Is he tired?
As the mornings get darker he'll probably sleep better, if not, you could ask your doctor for a low dose of melatonin, if he is tired, it'll help set up a routine.

I’d say you can read and that’s it. No tv etc

I completely agree.

She’s being naughty and unfair to everyone in the home and needs to have a consequence for her actions.

We tried a number of things:

Blackout blinds that affix with velcro
A groclock
A storytelling box machine to help fall asleep
Books that he can read in the morning
An understanding that if he absolutely cannot sleep he can slip into bed with us but must seek at all costs not to wake us.

I agree.

Is he wanting to go downstairs to eat or to watch Tv?

If he’s waking you up, it could be that he’s been up for a while.
If he’s waking up and immediately waking you up then it’s not on and he needs to entertain himself until the right time.

Get him a clock for his room.

Is he allowed downstairs by himself?

But you’re completely rewarding her behaviour and basically being held hostage by “if you don’t get up with me like I want, I’m going to slam doors and wake people up”.

Do you have well fitting blackout curtains?
Set up a breakfast so he is not banging cupboard doors.
Tell him not to come into your room, to go downstairs and get his breakfast and put tv on quietly.
If he can't tell the time yet, put stickers on a clock, 12 and 7, he can knock on your door after that(choose your own time)
Is he getting lots of exercise?

My ds has adhd and is rarely asleep before 10. He gets up at 6.30 now (10yo) but for years started his day at 0430. He does well in school and is very clever, just need less sleep than me!

From the age of 7 I got him a clock and told him he could wake up but he was only allowed out of bed to go to the bathroom. He had a water bottle by his bed and was allowed to read or play quietly. Any playing that woke anyone else had a consequence. No electronics ( because we found he would wake earlier to play with them) and nothing too stimulating.

We all would get up at 0630 and have breakfast. If he was dressed before breakfast (left his uniform ready the night before on school mornings) he was allowed to watch a couple of episodes of a tv show while I got showered and ready. If not, he got dressed while I showered.

Can he just go downstairs quietly and play or watch tv? Is it ideal? No, it’s a bit early. But it gives you more sleep. He’s 7, not 3. My 7 year old wakes up and goes downstairs to play or watch tv or will get himself some breakfast. Granted he wakes more like 6:30am, but I get up at 7 usually. I just ask him to be quiet and tidy away anything in the kitchen.

I have a friend whose now 10 year old has woken at 5:30am pretty much since birth. It’s her job now to make them a cup of coffee and bring it up to bed at the right time every day.

Fwiw, my 7 year old is not usually asleep before 9:30pm, sometimes 10pm and he wakes at 6:30am so very similar timing.He is NT. That’s just how long he sleeps.

My 5 year old doesn’t sleep much either. Roughly 8pm up to bed, 9/9.30pm finally falls asleep, awake around 6am.
He just can’t sleep more than around 9hrs and takes ages to settle. Same as yours 7pm bed just takes 2+hrs to settle so pointless

The only thing we do is no going downstairs before 7am. So he can play, look at books, Tonie box, etc in his bedroom, or he comes lay in our bed a while ( he’s usually already in our bed tbh after 3am). So at least dh and I can semi rest in bed until 7am.

Mone Never slept as a baby either

Sorry but at 8 that’s a behaviour thing. If she’s 8 years old and choosing to wake everyone up at 5am rather than stay in her room and play quietly then she needs a shed load of consequences. (And obviously to be rewarded
for when she does succeed.)

Some children just need less sleep than others. Tell him not to disturb you though.

My eldest used to be like this and get up at 5.30. he did however go to bed at 7, and be asleep by 8 though. He is still an early riser and can wake any time from 6.
The only strategy we had was not being allowed downstairs on his own (though I think that changed around this age and we just said as long as he put the TV on quietly, he could sit and watch that). I would start by thinking you aren't going to change them waking up early, so have a plan for what you want them to do when they wake - is it stay in their room or go downstairs? Can they watch TV? Have some rules for that and if you trust them, then they can do that while you stay in bed (however I realise this might not be possible as you mention ND).

9hrs is actually in the 'normal range' but right on the lower end.

My 6 year old has always been an early riser! I tried putting him to sleep later and trialed this for a few months. It just meant he was getting less sleep as he'd wake at the same time.

Since starting back at school, I've shifted our routine forward (so he goes to bed earlier) which seems to be helping. And also being much stricter with TV switch off. He's been asleep by 8-8:30 most nights and wakes around 6:30pm so is getting 10 hours. It's less than some kids need but seems to be ok for him.

If he’s always been low sleep needs and is waking happy then has plenty of energy for all his activities then it really doesn’t sound like he needs an earlier bedtime. Instead I’d focus on him not waking you up. Get him a clock. A normal digital one should be fine at age 7 but you could do a groclock that changes colours if you think he’s understand that better. Make sure he has quiet stuff to play with- books, Lego, drawing etc. then from now on when he wakes he does that and he doesn’t step a foot outside his room (exemption being the loo obviously) until 6.30.