Page 2 | 7 year old wakes up at 5:30am everyday

Cucy · 09/09/2025 07:57

HelloGreen · 09/09/2025 07:31

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.)

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I completely agree.

She’s being naughty and unfair to everyone in the home and needs to have a consequence for her actions.

EasternStandard · 09/09/2025 08:00

I’d say you can read and that’s it. No tv etc

EmeraldShamrock000 · 09/09/2025 08:02

If he is sleeping through, he should be okay, he needs his own clock shaded so he understands 6.am is the earliest, he can sit in bed.
Is he tired?
As the mornings get darker he'll probably sleep better, if not, you could ask your doctor for a low dose of melatonin, if he is tired, it'll help set up a routine.

Ohplesandbanonos · 09/09/2025 08:12

EmeraldShamrock000 · 09/09/2025 08:02

If he is sleeping through, he should be okay, he needs his own clock shaded so he understands 6.am is the earliest, he can sit in bed.
Is he tired?
As the mornings get darker he'll probably sleep better, if not, you could ask your doctor for a low dose of melatonin, if he is tired, it'll help set up a routine.

In England, melatonin usually has to be prescribed by a specialist - at least in the first instance. We've also tried melatonin and although it helped with getting to sleep it didn't have much impact on morning waking time.

zaazaazoom · 09/09/2025 08:18

Imissgoldengrahams · 09/09/2025 07:15

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

Mine was like this. Whenever they were 5 we agreed that the only way she could get her hour of daily screen time was if she didn't wake anyone else up before an agreed time. If she managed to stay quiet, and not wake anyone up by reading in bed she would get to watch TV /use eher ipad that day.
If she woke anyone up, she would lose that privilege.
Obviously the first few times I implemented it there were huge fights. But it was worth it biggest from their on we had years of better sleep.

deeahgwitch · 09/09/2025 08:38

Imissgoldengrahams · 09/09/2025 07:15

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

Oh my @Imissgoldengrahamsthat can’t continue !!!
Getting in a strop, after waking you, clattering about and waking her siblings.
I think that deserves a thread of its own to get advice on tackling the behaviour.
Can you do a reward chart or something ?

Would sanctions of some kind work ?

Coffeeishot · 09/09/2025 08:41

This reply has been deleted

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

I don't think the poster mentioned her son has ADHD.

Coffeeishot · 09/09/2025 08:42

Op set him an alarm clock that you set and he can "get up then" set it for whatever time you get up.

Imagineallthepuppies · 09/09/2025 08:42

My ds has adhd and has always had a different sleep cycle to the rest of us.

At bedtime we encouraged him to stay in his room and read and in the mornings he could get up quietly. As long as he wasn’t disturbing others it was ok. He was getting enough sleep for him.

He has now left home and I’m in the awful 3am peri wake up club! Yay for me.

It sounds like she’s active and that it’s not affecting her day? Just yours?

ComfortFoodCafe · 09/09/2025 08:45

Some children need less sleep than others, my 14 year old has never slept more than five hours a night. We just have an agreement that he watches tv/goes on his phone till I get up at 6.30am been that way since he was seven before I used to get up but I was exhausted constantly, this works well for us. (He does have a diagnosis of a sleep disorder though and no amount of melatonin/adhd medication helped.)

Cucy · 09/09/2025 08:47

My sister doesn’t allow screens until after a certain time or in the evenings.

Her kids are early risers and the weekends were a nightmare.

So she made a rule that they can go on the PlayStation in the mornings until she wakes up (as long as it’s after a certain time).

On the weekends she can sleep in as long as she likes as they creep around being quiet so they don’t wake her up :)

Bitzee · 09/09/2025 08:48

Coffeeishot · 09/09/2025 08:41

I don't think the poster mentioned her son has ADHD.

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OP has said she has AUHD and he’s on a waiting list for the same.

Gagamama2 · 09/09/2025 08:49

My 6.5 year old is like this. After trying all the things (reward charts, gro clock, hatch clock, new books to read in bed, reorganised his room with toys that he could play with quietly, etc etc) I have admitted defeat and just get up with him.

It’s quite nice in the morning when the house is quiet and the sun is coming up. I go to bed earlier and barely drink anymore so I can cope with the continual early mornings.

He is also on the waiting list to be assessed for autism and adhd. The reason he wakes me up is that he is anxious about being alone in the house awake - he doesn’t like being even in his bedroom alone. We only just realised this was an anxiety when a psychologist told us, because what it looks like is him being aggressive / stroppy / controlling in the morning to force me out of bed.

Sorry I don’t have any practical advice…if it’s any consolation his older brother was the same and now will leave us alone in the mornings even if he is awake first (he will read in bed or get his own breakfast). It took until he was 9 though.

LoafofSellotape · 09/09/2025 08:50

Imissgoldengrahams · 09/09/2025 07:15

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

What am I reading?! What are the consequences for her doing this, she's 8 ,you're in charge here.

Geiirksns · 09/09/2025 08:51

Mine have gro clocks and know they can’t go down stairs or wake us until 6.30.

dogcatkitten · 09/09/2025 08:51

Theponytales · 09/09/2025 07:03

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.

Would fit right in in our house we are usually up just after 5.😀

LizzieSiddal · 09/09/2025 08:51

My Dd was always an early riser but by 7 she knew she was not allowed to wake anyone else (unless there was an emergency!). You need to do the same with your son.

He should stay in his room and play/read/draw etc quietly until the rest of the house is awake. If he doesn’t do as he’s told then there would have to be consequences!

LoafofSellotape · 09/09/2025 08:52

Ds was the same ,always an early riser,he was allowed to get up for a wee and read in bed until the alarm went off but actually used to sleep longer or drop off to sleep again once we'd implemented this routine.

blobby10 · 09/09/2025 08:54

All mine were like this until high school and none of them were good sleepers as babies! The middle child still gets up at 5.30am naturally although the eldest is now a night owl and prefers working late shifts whilst the youngest has to get up at 5am for work but needs an afternoon nap to make it through the evening
Either DH or I got up with them - I think I got the lies in at the weekend as (then) DH had the knack of napping and could go back to bed and sleep for a couple of hours later in the day.

SJM1988 · 09/09/2025 09:01

My DS8 was always an early waker. Its only recently (last few months) he is wanting to sleep past 6am. The worst was 3-4 at 4.30am wake ups with no naps.

What do you do when he wakes up? Do you get up? Do stuff etc?
We have a rule of either staying in bed with us or his or stay his room reading until 6am. No playing with toys, soft lights on only, no going downstairs, absolutely no screens (we found he was waking early at the weekend because he thought he would get screen time). It took a while like a few months for him to get it but now if he wakes pre 6am he will doze in bed or read a book or come cuddle us not want to get up and go straight away.

Some child have low sleep needs. My DS needed average 9 hours with wake ups for a long time (probably between 3-6 years old) and coped fine. At 7 he moved to needing more like 10, I feel now at 8 he is moving more to 11 hours sleep although not sure if the 11 is a phase with a growth spurt.

dizzydizzydizzy · 09/09/2025 09:02

Does he seem tired?

Before I got to the sentence about AuDHD in your OP, my thought was that he sounds like my DC2 who is also AuDHD.

DC2 is now early 20s and is always at the gym at 6:30am. As a baby, they wanted to get up at 4am and dropped their daytime naps at the same time as DC1 who is 2 years older. As they got to school age, their getting up time gradually moved to about 6.

DC2's ADHD psychiatrist was absolutely insistent about taking magnesium (but DC2 was an adult at the time of diagnosis). If you take it in the evening, it does help with sleep. Also I have heard before that ND children sometimes get melatonin on prescription.

Ellie1015 · 09/09/2025 09:05

My kids were early risers. Our rules were if before 5.30 he must lie still and quiet and try to sleep. 5.30-6.30 he can read or some other quiet activity in his room. Dont come into your room before 6.30am.

Nanny0gg · 09/09/2025 09:06

Imissgoldengrahams · 09/09/2025 07:15

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

There would be consequences for that in my house

My kids knew to read quietly until a reasonable hour and then go downstairs quietly

pottylolly · 09/09/2025 09:14

At 7 he’s old enough to either go downstairs by himself or stay in his room when he’s awake. Make it clear that there will be consequences (maybe he loses a privilege?) if he comes into your room.

GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 09/09/2025 09:14

DD has always been a late to sleep, early to rise.

As a baby and again as a toddler we tried to 'get her into a routine' like all the books say. Started putting her down at 6/7pm. She was awake for the day at 3am! 😂

In the end we decided to just go with what she seemed to need, rather than what the books say. She's 9, goes to sleep at about 9.30 pm, (goes to bed at 8.30 and reads to sleep) and wakes naturally at 6.30. Doesn't get tired during the day, sometimes chooses to go to bed earlier if she's had a tiring day with lots of exercise.

If she wakes earlier, or at the weekend, she just reads in bed or plays with teddies.

If she was tired in the day, or had to be woken in the morning, we'd insist on an earlier bedtime and risk being woken at sparrow fart, but she genuinely doesn't seem to need it.