My 6 year old wakes up between 4 and 5:30 am consistently

[Cangelle]

Our 6 year old boy is up, alert and ready for the day between 4am and 5:30 am every day (he goes to bed at 8 pm).

We have introduced a clock that has a moon that changes to the sunshine at an acceptable morning time but it didn’t work. He gets up, puts the tv on, sometimes gets himself some cereal, and after a few minutes (up to an hour), he wakes us up.

We have tried sticker charts, small toys rewards, punishments, etc but none of these encourage him to stay in bed or try to fall back asleep.


If we drive anywhere in the afternoon he is very likely to fall asleep. Overall, he’s overtired after 4 pm.

If I move his bedtime later, it makes no difference, he just gets even less sleep before he wakes up.

We give him an extra meal before he goes to bed incase it is hunger getting him up.

Has anyone got any suggestions/ideas that may help us?

I should add that he was diagnosed with ADHD and takes Adderall 4 times a week. However, he still has the same sleep patterns when he is off (eg. vacation).

dose of melatonin in the wee small hours ?
personally I would tell him.he can read in bed until an acceptable time and is forbidden to get up or wake anyone else. And enforce it.

My son was the same! He is also ADHD. The only difference was that when DS was up, I was up!

It didn't make a difference what time we put him to bed, he would still be up between 4 - 5 at that age & trust me, we tried everything!

The only glimmer of hope I can give you is that DS is now 14 and will sleep till lunchtime if allowed! He did gradually get better rather than it just happening overnight!

Thank you for your response. I’m mostly worried about his lack of sleep (over mine). Melatonin doesn’t seem to help.

I’m so glad it’ll most likely get better with time! Thanks for sharing.

Can you increase his bedtime but by 5 minutes every 3/4 days.

So 8:05pm for 4 nights then 8:10pm for the rest of the week. 8:15pm for three nights etc etc

Has more of an effect then increasing sharply

I would say he needs to go to bed earlier. Early wake-ups can happen when the DC is overtired and goes directly into a deep sleep when they first sleep. This does something to the sleep cycle (not an expert) and causes early waking.

I’d try putting him to bed at 7 for a while and see if it helps.

We’ve tried to push the bedtime incrementally to no avail but we didn’t try to put him earlier! Let’s give it a go. Will report back.

Have a look at retained reflexes/neuro developmental delay.

He probably still has his Moro reflex and is full of adrenaline. Very common when you had ADHD.

It was the only thing that got my child to sleep longer.

What works once you found out about moro reflex?

There are a couple of techniques one is specific physical exercises the child does, the other is brushing the child - both stimulate the neurological system until it realise the reflex isn't needed anymore.

It's mainstream over in Australia and increasingly widespread here but been around over 50 years.

We used this guy www.accesspotential.net/our-team

Will start with brushing! I’ll also read about physical exercise to address this issue… it can’t hurt!

I would try the earlier bedtime for a week or two. What time is he going now? It won't hurt him and even if it doesn't help him sleep later, at least he is getting more sleep

Have you spoken to your GP? I don't know for sure but adderal is a stimulant right? So it's likely that this is having an effect on him. It might be a common problem that the GP can counter with a different drug? Or a different strategy for his ADHD maybe?

You need to be taught how to brush correctly, how often and be monitored. Also to check he does have retained Moro first.

I wouldn't advocate just doing what you think.

There are two types of melabnin. Short acting which gets them to sleep faster. Long acting which keeps them sleeping longer. Which one did you try?

i would try a slightly earlier bedtime too

Definitely try the earlier bedtime I’m sure mine were 7/7.30 latest at that age.

I think I’d have to be firm with him not getting up until a certain time (say 7). So if he wakes earlier he has to stay in bed. The problem is by getting up at 4.30 every day and putting lights on etc his body clock is set to that time. The only way to shift it is to stay in bed in the dark. Hopefully he may eventually fall back to sleep and the body clock will reset.

Thank you all. He typically goes to bed at 8 pm but will start step back step to do 7:30 pm, and possibly 7 pm.

The ADHD medication does impact sleep but leaves the body quickly and the sleep pattern precedes the meditation and continues when off.

I don't have any wise answers but I know how you feel so I wanted to offer empathy 💐. My 2 and 3/4 year old thinks 4am is the start of the day too and I have no idea how to change that (complex needs so is likely to be an ongoing thing)

Just stumbled across this thread again, how did you get on with earlier bedtime?

Is something happening at that time each day? Boiler coming on? Neighbour leaving for work? Any thug that could be triggering him.

my, also adhd, child used to wake up early even from a very young age so we just used to bring them into bed with us, tell them it’s still sleep time and then ignore ignore ignore. She stayed in bed with us happily and now sleeps till a more acceptable time.

I know he doesn’t take melatonin regularly but my experience was that whilst it sent my daughter off to sleep at a decent time she always woke up in the early hours when she’d taken it.

Melatonin to reset his body clock. With an ADHD diagnosis you should be able to get a circadin prescription from his pediatrician easily enough.