Is it normal for my child to wake up at 5:30am everyday?!

[NannyPlum73]

I’m so fed up with this now.
My DS is almost 7 and he wakes up at around 5:30 mostly every day.
A lie-in is 6:15am!
I talk to other parents and they talk about having to drag their children out of bed for school and one mum said her 9 year old was asleep until 11:30am last Sunday!

He’s on the waiting list for an autism and ADHD assessment but in the meantime I’m really struggling.

My DS2 has autism. We found he doesnt need much sleep.

We do have rules though. He is NOT allowed to wake me before 6.30am (7am at weekends). He also has to be in bed by 8.30pm but can read in bed. He is 9.

My 9 year old has been like this since 2! I was a student nurse when he was 2 so he had to be up early Monday - Friday. Unlike other kids his age he doesn’t even sleep in on a weekend, 5.30 every morning without fail and he’s up. Thankfully now he’s older he does his own thing or watches YouTube until I’m awake

What time.do.you put him to bed

AuDHD DS is also an early riser. He’s very good and doesn’t wake us up in the mornings, but I always set my alarm for 7am on the weekends so he knows we’re there for him. He’s 10.

My DS has always been an early riser. Still is at 16 - he wakes at 6 most mornings! Since he was about 8 he just puts his headphones on, listens to music without disturbing anyone else. He has always been happy to go to sleep fairly early which would have been nice if his twin brother hadn't worked exactly the opposite way. One of them is always awake it seems!

Perfectly normal for some kids

I could have written this. Chuck in some night waking and it's the same as us. We just go to bed earlier and start our day very early. I've come to embrace it and can have the dog walked, laundry on, house vacuumed, dinner prepped/cooked before the school run!

Mine is often awake from 11.30pm (disordered sleep is a part of his condition) and doesn't go back to sleep until the next evening.

My DS never needed (needs) more than about 9 hours sleep from the age of about 1 typically, so if asleep by 9 would be awake at 6.

He goes to sleep around 9.30 and wakes around 6.30 - 7 (and in the night), it's a late bedtime but better than him getting up at 5.

My dc3 has always been an early riser like that. Teenager now and still up early. Once he could read and tell the time a bit then he was strongly encouraged to let us sleep until 7 at the weekend. On the dot of 7 he would be at our door. Then he worked out of he went downstairs and turned the TV volume low he could watch a fair amount of TV before we got up! Still up between 6 and 6.30 most mornings. Takes until around the last week of the school summer holidays for him to finally start sleeping past 7am.

Are you me?!

I've found the ones who need dragged out of bed in morning didn't actually go to sleep til 10.

DS wouldn't function going that late.

my eyes sting on a morning but with the dark mornings coming in I do quite enjoy a cosy morning before school.

plus no stress rushing round getting sorted.

My son is an early riser - always has been. He's 11 now and in secondary school.
A lie in is probably 6.15am!

He has quite a long day at school plus the bus journey, goes to swimming club, goes playing out with friends for hours at weekend etc.

Still gets up early! No additional needs, just the way he is.

Luckily, he is able to get up himself, go down stairs and amuse himself, get breakfast etc without us!

Can your son amuse himself in his room if you leave snacks/drink?

My son was always an early riser, always up around 530am every day & never had a lie in. I tried going to bed later, black out blinds, co sleeping- nothing worked. He is 18 now & I don't think he's ever slept in past 9am. I never had to wake him up or drag him out of bed for school/work/college etc so I like to think it was a good thing overall but my goodness the baby & toddler day's were tough!

My ds has always been a early riser 5am - 5.30 everyday. My other son is also an early riser but now he's getting older he's sleeping a little longer 6-6.30.
They both wake up at least 2 x per night too.
Both have a ASD diagnosis.

My son has never needed much sleep. He’s 9 now and is in bed for 9 or so and up before 6. We have a sports thing some weekends and he’s in bed for 11… and up at 6. He’s super high energy and really busy so doesn’t need it.

From quite young we got him one of those colour changing clocks so he knew not to bother us. He could get up when it turned yellow and play in his room quietly until 7. Now he can obviously just get up and get his breakfast but he tends to just read a book until the rest of us emerge.

We have one of these. This morning I heard him
try to get up before 4am after going to the loo. I steered him back to bed!! He’s 9, so not holding out much hope it’s going to change. I can’t relate at all to the parents dragging their kids out of bed, my 7 year old doesn’t usually get up as early as his brother but it’s very rare id have to actually wake him for school!

My nieces are 12. They are up between 5.30-6am every morning without fail. Their parents tell them to stay in their own rooms and read /play quietly til at least 7.30, which thankfully they're happy to do. I'm not a morning person so I thank my lucky stars that my child is not an early riser. But I think some children just like to get up very early unfortunately!

My DD was always up about 5.30 and ready to start the day. She also resisted daytime naps from a very young age. She’s 20 now and still an early riser, though not quite that early, and she has embraced naps now 😂 She does have ADHD and I expect early waking is common for ND children, though I’m sure plenty of NT people are naturally early risers too.

After the sleep deprivation we went through with DD, I was relieved to get DC2, who has always loved lots of sleep right from babyhood. When he was a toddler, I used to have to wake him from afternoon naps after 3 hours. Once he was at school he invariably had to be woken up in the mornings to get ready for school. He’s now 17 and still gets loads of sleep.

It’s not crazy early but again it’s not great.

Do you have rules about him staying in his room until a certain time?

You need to explain to him that’s it’s ok for him to want to be up that early but you need more sleep.

Have books, toys, an iPad clearly laid out on his floor and explain that he has to entertain himself until X time. Use a normal clock or a grow clock if needed.

Obviously he can leave to go to the bathroom and if something was wrong he should wake you but he’s old enough to follow these instructions.

Dts are 15 now, they started sleeping until around 945 over the summer.

they were very early risers. As was I. We are still all morning people. The worst was 4am starts which coincided with me going back to work that did nearly break me. It was 6 until the summer.