Anyone else child never slept the recommended amount?

[user8765]

Since DD was born her sleep has never been great. I remember it taking forever to get her to sleep and she woke every couple of hours for much of her first year.
All day time naps stopped completely before she was 2.
She is now 4 and getting her to sleep is still hard work. I'm worried she has probably never had the recommended amount of sleep for her age group. She has only just gone to sleep (9.45pm). She will be up for school 7.30 am tomorrow. I can't get her to go to sleep earlier. Even her first full week in school I remember all the other parents saying how tired their DC were and how they were asleep by 6.30/7pm. Even then she still did not go to sleep any earlier. Most nights it averages around 9pm.

Can this just be normal that she actually needs less sleep than average child her age? Anyone else DC similar?

Mine have always been night owls. For my older ones it evened out a bit when they started college but I know they still don't sleep great. Youngest DD is 11 and she functions perfectly well on 7 hours during the week, as it's usually after midnight before she's asleep then up at half 7. She catches up on a weekend where she'll sleep til noon if we don't have plans.

I was always the same as a child, still am, that's why I've never battled over bedtimes with my kids.