7 year old wakes up at 5:30am everyday

[Theponytales]

I am at my wits end with this. He wakes at 5:30 most days, sometimes it’s 6am, latest 6:30 this week. He’ll come into our bedroom and ask if he can go downstairs yet.
Obviously then we are awake. Alarm goes off at 6:30 on a weekday as that’s when we get up for work. So we’re losing an hour of sleep everyday and more at weekends.

I’m also worried about the amount of sleep he’s getting. He’s in bed by 8pm, has a story but isn’t asleep until 9pm. So he’s getting less than 9 hours sleep which I’m assuming isn’t ideal for a child of 7 years old. He’s very active, does judo, swimming and beavers during the week, school everyday. He does lots of walking with his dad, scooting and he’s learning to ride his bike.

He never slept well as a baby and dropped his daytime naps before he was 1 year old.

I’ve had sleep issues most of my life, I was diagnosed AUDHD a few months ago. He’s also ok the waiting list for the same, so I’m wondering if its connected.

I guess I’m worried it’ll impact his development in some way.

If you are worried about lack of sleep maybe put him to bed earlier? 9pm is quite late for a 7 year old.

Tell him he can't come into your room in the mornings. You will decide when you wake up

Get one of those clocks that changes colour when they’re allowed to get up. If he’s a natural early walker he can wake and stay in his bed or room until the light colour changes at 6:30.

I also agree with @Burningbud1981 that his bedtime is quite late for a 7 year old.

Mine was always a very early riser. By 4/5 he would just play quietly in his room until a more reasonable time and at 7 he could go downstairs himself. Just tell him not to wake you before 6.30! He's old enough to understand that surely?

My 8 year old is like this
Wakes up between 5 and half 5
Grow clocks don't make any difference
And if I tell her to go back to bed she will slam doors and turn up lights, waking up her siblings so I feel like I don't have a choice but to get up with her

My nephew is going through a phase like this as well. At 7 he's old enough to either play in his room or go downstairs on his own without asking.

My 6 year old has always been an early riser. But we’ve always been clear that unless there is a problem, she has to stay in her room until 7. She has toys, jigsaws, and books, and she entertains herself.

Let him get up but tell him not to wake you. At 7 he is old enough to get dressed and pour himself some cereal and watch some TV.

5.30am isn’t an unreasonable time to wake up. We are normally up and about by then. Though we do have horses so maybe I’m a bit skewed in my thinking. 🤔

I stopped getting up with mine when they were about 4! They had a gro clock and strict instructions not to get up before it changed and then to be super quiet sneaking down to put the TV on.

Absolutely no way would I be having a 7 year old still wake me early like this!

I come from a family of non sleepers. I was probably 14 before I slept past 5am. When I was at home I just used to read. Can’t he do that? But he needs to learn that unless it’s a 8+/10 problem he must never ever wake people up.
The most useful thing I was ever told was that as long as I was in bed and resting then not to worry about being asleep. It takes all the stress out of not being able to sleep.

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.

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.

For those saying put him to bed earlier, it just doesn’t work, he’ll lay awake for ages.

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).

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

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.)

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

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 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.

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?

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”.

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?

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.