to think 11 hours sleep is enough for a 6yo?

[wigglybluelines]

But 8 hours is not enough for a 10 year old?

My youngest sleeps 11 hours, that's fine for a 6yo, isn't it? (A friend suggested it wasn't).

My oldest has issues sleeping and usually only gets around 8. I feel that's not enougj for a 10yo.

Does anyone know what the guidelines are?

How long do your DC sleep?

I seem to remember that 10 year olds are meant to have 10 hours? No idea what that’s based on and I don’t have one. I have an 8 month old who gets 11 more or less (if you add up 3+2+2+2+2 ... but that’s a whole other thread )

Every person needs a different amount of sleep, so there is no answer do your question.
If they are well rested and can get on with their day, don't have troubles concentrating and aren't moody due to lack of sleep, they get enough.

8 hours is not a lot for a 10yo, no. I would expect them to need nearer 10 hours.

8yo here and gets around 9 hours

Seems to be enough, but they will sleep in at the weekends

Like adults, different children need different amounts of sleep.

My dc are in the really lucky position that they have never been woken up (except from for a holiday or something), so they've always got to wake up naturally - at 6 they slept for 12 hours. My ten year old now sleeps 10.

11 he sounds fine for 6yo.

8 is not enough for 10 yo.

My 12 yo sleeps less than his friends and now gets around 8 -8.5 hours. I would prefer him to have 9+. He does catch up on weekends though - sleeps 10-11 then.

Below is the nhs guidance.

I have a 6&8yo, bedtime is now 8, they are asleep by 9 at latest (usually by half past) and up at around 7 on a school day, 7.30 at latest (leave house just after 8). So 10-11 hours.

My 6yo gets up stupidly early as it is (5.30 am he woke up last week, luckily I caught him before he headed off downstairs to watch cbeebies so he was sent back to bed with his tail between his legs before he reappeared at 6.30 am), don't think I'd like to try getting him to bed early enough to get 11h.

Everyone needs different amounts of sleep, my DDs were completely different as babies, one didn't sleep at all during the day from 10 weeks old although she didn't wake till 9-10am. STTN fairly early though, the other one just slept all the time as a baby, waking at regular intervals for an efficient feed and poo before going back to sleep again. It was a real shock after DD1.

My 10 year old has about 9 - 10hrs sleep. 5 year old about 11hrs, sometimes less and sometimes up to 12/13hrs in the weekends if he's had a few early mornings in the week.

with averages there are always going to be kids that are outliers statistically speaking. I would go more by does he wake up and get up when he is supposed to, is he bright eyed and bushy tailed still after school, is he happy to partake in sport and not low on energy, does he eat well and is his behaviour well adjusted - if so would't worry about the only 8 hrs thing

My DD never needed much and at 14 rarely goes to bed before me although I tend to be awake longer - so around 11, but she has no problem getting up at 6.30 or 7 and sorts herself out and gets to the bus OK - I think missed once in 3 yrs so far and only as the bus was early! She just doesn't need that much - I didn't either

Everyone is different when it comes to sleep. We are just conditioned to believe all the bullshit about what is the perfect scenario when it comes to everything.

We need 8 hrs sleep.
We need to eat 5 bit of fruit and veg
We need to drink less than 14 units of alcohol
We need to exercise so many times a week

Etc etc etc

We swallow it all because someone tells us it’s true.

The nhs guidelines are the average. Some children will need more. Others less. Dd is 11. Her friend goes to bed at 7.30 on a school night to get enough sleep whereas dd will go to bed at 9 and fall asleep at maybe 9.30. Unfortunately there is the other end of the spectrum, where children, such as your ds, who at 10, only sleep 8 hours. Maybe your ds is destined to sleep circa 5 hours a day as and adult.

DS is 6 and gets between 9 and 10 hours a night. He's always slept less than official guidance would suggest he needs so I have to assume he sleeps the right amount for him. Though neither DH nor I are good sleepers, so maybe that's just genetic?

My dcs have been in by 8.30 pm since they were about 10yo. Up at 7.00am that’s about 10~11hours. This stayed the same until they were about 14yo. Dc1 who is 16yo now goes to sleep around 9.30pm.

Before that they were in bed by 7.30pm. So 11~12 hours of sleep.

FWIW many studies are showing children often don’t sleep enough (primary and secondary). But I have yet to see a child that can sleep too much. They just wake up earlier if they go to bed too early!

My nearly 6 year old is knackered if she doesn’t get her full 12 hours. Some of her friends seem to manage on much less. They’re all different.

There are many studies that show that 5 hours of sleep is associated with early death and cardiovascular diseases.
You can easily ‘train’ yourself to sleep little by basically making being exhausted your normal.
And having a lie in at weekends doesn’t make up for it either.

My take on that is that, if you go to bed earlier and sleep more hours then you probably didn’t sleep enough before hand.

Thanks, interesting to see the differences.

My 6yo goes to be at 9. A friend was horrified as her kids go to bed at 7 at the very latest! But they get up at the crack of dawn. We're near school so I don't wake DS2 till 8am. For some reason she can't see it's the same as her DC are getting just a bit later. Weird!

My 10yo on the other hand really struggles to get to sleep, he's often up at 10:30 or 11. And then god knows what time he wakes, he's always up before I am. I worry about him tbh.

We're near school so I don't wake DS2 till 8am

If you’re having to wake him up, that suggests he would sleep longer if he had the chance?
Mine go to bed at 7 and wake naturally between 7 and 7.30am.

My DS is 5 (almost 6) and he needs 11 hours a night. He is not getting it at the moment as he is struggling to get to sleep for some reason, meaning he’s only getting 9.5 hours lately. We can definitely tell as he is a grumpy little thing.

@wigglybluelines the only thing I’d be horrified about is I can’t imagine how you handle evenings! I’m so relieved my 6 year old goes at 7:30 and I finally get some time to myself! If she stayed up until 9 and I had an extra 2 hours to entertain her I’d go crazy!!

Mine are still up now. My 3 year old will wake naturally around 8 tomorrow morning. My 8 year old has to be woken for school but he's made good progress all year and enjoys his activities after school too. He just can't sleep early. Some people are night owls definitely. I am.

my 6 year old sleeps 10 hours in term time, less during holidays. he naturally wakes up at 6 the latest. everybody is diffz