To take my 7 daughter to GP because she starts the day at 4:30

[Notthinkingclearly]

Dd is 7 and has always been a rubbish sleeper. I took her to GP last year about something else and mentioned her lack of sleep and very early rising. GP uninterested and said oh she probably just needs to go to bed later. This has no effect on her waking i fact we went to a wedding recently and she didn't go to bed until midnight and she was still awake befor 5! I'm on my own alot as Dp works away and after 7 years of no sleep I have had enough. I have tried the firm approach, rewards, sleeping on her floor, putting her in bed with me but nothing works. She is so tired and subsequently picks up everything going. On the rare occasion that she falls asleep in the car she is much sunnier child. Any advice really welcome.

we use the slow release tablets, but my DS used to only sleep solidly for 3hrs and now will go down 8-1, then is up and down like a yo-yo.

The circadin has stopped the up-an-down nonsense between 8 and 11pm.

Would it be worth putting a little tv in her bedroom and when she wakes early, let her watch tv at a low level.

Might help her drift back off again during it

Does she actually get up (as opposed to waking up) at 4.30? Because I'd knock that on the head, if she has to stay in bed she may well doze back off, or even if she doesn't she will at least be "resting".

My DS was a similarly early riser. he grew out of it when he started secondary school

I'm going to disagree..:

I have 4 children who sleep well, follow all the rules and good sleep habits. The 4 yr old sleeeps 11-4 and it's slowly killing me! I haven't just selected one to give no boundaries or manage behaviour,

See if you can get help, it's relentless. It's easy to one off say lie in bed, but day after day it just doesn't work. They do need some supervision or notice

Thanks for all your comments. She goes to bed very happy and is usually asleep very quickly. It's worse if she is overtired as she gets terrible fidgets in her legs. She has lots of fresh air and exercise a good bedtime routine of bath , story and cuddle before lights out. I wouldnt care so much if she wasn't so tired during the day. She can be quite argumentative and hard to deal with alot but if she has a nap can be a different child and recognises it herself too as she will say "0h I feel so much better now".

Don't contact your GP as it takes up an urgent appointment, Contact your school nurse who will be able to advise you or make referrals to sleep clinics etc,

You need about 2 hours of screens off for it bit to affect sleep. So if bed is 7.30, that means screens off at 5.30.

Yes cherry, that's why I asked about bedtime and sleeping through, if it isolated early waking melatonin won't help. OP mentioned "getting no sleep" so I wondered if there was also a problem of sleep initiation ( getting to sleep) or sleep maintenance (staying asleep), in which case refferal might be helpful. If the dd is going to sleep easily at 6:30 or 7 and sleeping till 4:30 /5 then there isn't really a sleep disorder, just a normal sleep pattern , with a time shint.