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.

Mines up that early too OP. He’s nearly 8. He doesn’t disturb us though as he just goes downstairs by himself and watches telly and gets his breakfast. We get up with the other kids about 6:30/7.

It is bloody unreasonable!!!

Even when working 7.10 was the earliest I’ve ever got up.

Apart from the baby years.

At 8? And you put up with this? Who is the parent here?

It made my 16 year old wake up at 4.30. We abandoned melatonin

I think at 7 he is old enough to go downstairs ,put the TV on and grab some cereal or a Banana /Drink? I dont get why he has to come into you first. Just say hey Jack ,Mummy and Daddy are still asleep .

Tbh if he is getting over 8 hours sleep thats actually really good. One of my autistic kids slept about 4 hours a night. If he needs you then unfortunately you have to get up. If he doesn’t need you and would be ok downstairs alone then just tell him to do that

She doesn’t allow screens but allows the PlayStation? Is your sister quite alright? Does she not know that ‘screens’ includes gaming screens?

Yep don't do this, I wouldn't do screens at all. Just reading.

Fair point, I just think we shouldn't pre diagnose.

Get him a digital clock so he knows what time it is (preferably with a light or luminous display). Smiggle have good ones. He stays in his room or comes down quietly until whatever time you state.eg 6.30am. I would try for a week and give a reward if he follows through, to get into the habit

My son has been getting up earlier than everyone else for a while. Since he was 5 he hasn’t needed to wake anyone. We talk about what he plans to do the night before and leave things on the dining table that he needs, e.g. pens and paper for drawing. He makes his own breakfast.
He has some breathing problems and the doctor told us that we shouldn’t worry about his sleep if he wakes of his own accord in the morning. If he’s up in the night for whatever reason he does sleep longer.

My eldest was like this. Unfortunately we didn't get anything to work, including melatonin. He is 21 now and it definitely did not impact his development in any way.
The only thing I would say is to have a rule that he can't come into you until a certain time or has to stay in his room until a certain time so at least you aren't being woken when he does every day.

This. He’s 7! He can amuse himself until you get up surely.

Some children just sleep less.

Does he have a grow clock. If not get one. He will learn that he has to stay in his bedroom until the light changes.

Let him know it’s ok that he is awake early but not everyone wants to be awake that early.

Have books, easy toys, an iPad if needs be laid out in his room for easy access and explain that he is to entertain himself in his room until the clock changes.

Obviously let him know he can use the toilet if needed but until the clock changes it is mummy and daddy’s time to still be sleeping.

Get him a clock and tell him he needs to stay in bed until half 6, he can read or play on his iPad or whatever as long as its quiet

I’m surprised at people mentioning a gro clock. He’s 7, not 3, he can read numbers on a digital clock and he should know what they mean!

Well nothing seems to be working so why not use a grow clock? If it works, it works.

Sounds like my DD (also 7) she's always had sleep needs on the lower end of the expected spectrum. We have her in bed for 8 but she's rarely asleep before 9 and wakes up between 5/5:30. She has a clock and knows she's not allowed to come into our room or her brother's room until 7 unless there's a problem. She mostly reads in bed and has recently started going to get in the shower at 6:30 ish.

At his age I think the conversation probably needs to be about what's acceptable instead of waking you up. If he's possibly autistic then a set of rules might work? I.e. what circumstances it's ok to wake you up, what circumstances he should stay in his room, potential things he can do in his room, whether or not he can go downstairs and get himself some breakfast etc etc.

For some reason the gro clock just works better on my kids

They can read numbers but it's like external confirmation of the rule or something

Is it the daylight? Interesting that hes sleeping a bit later now it's darker in the mornings. Blackout curtains made a big difference to my DS1.

But yes, he can wake whenever he likes, but has to stay in his room with books and toys until whatever time you set.

Our rule at that age was he can read/play quietly in his room until 06:30. After that he could have 30 minutes of screen time downstairs. I was always up by then.

From about 5, DS1 had an alarm clock. He could not get out of bed, or disturb people until it went off. It was set to 5.30. And, yes, it was an actual alarm. It stopped the earlier wakings, but did prevent any lie ins - tho I guess he could have turned it off and rolled over!
He was encouraged to go and watch TV at that point. I had an alarm for 6am on school days, so would have breakfast with him then. Weekends I had an alarm for 7am for me.

He's now a teen. Still up early most days (it's a shock if he hasn't appeared by 8am at the weekends). Had great GCSEs - some 9s in there. He just doesn't sleep. It's three way some are.

I'd work on him being independent at 5am. Getting up is one thing. Expecting others to get up is a different matter.

Have you tried melatonin gummies or antihistamine cream/liquid? I’d work out how you can get him to bed earlier, since his body clock is hardwired for early starts (same for my husband, he’s been like that since he was a child).