5 yr old is always tired yet sleeps lots.

[Rosa]

Just picked dd up from 1hr gym class which she loves. Teacher stopped her half way as she was obviously exhausted and seeing as she is 8 weeks on from a broken collar bone was worried and so stopped her. DD was in tears as she was tired.
She sleeps 7.30 - 7 and goes to gym club sat am and then one hr after school in the week. Thats it. At the weekend its normal for her to sleep 1-2 hrs either sat or sun pm .
Her 2 yr old sister sleeps less than her!
EVen with all this sleep she seems tired and has black rings under her eyes regularly.
She eats pretty well ok not 5 a day but at least 3 every day ( meat , fish etc) plus I do give vit supplements as this tired thing has been going on for ages. ( Before she broke her collarbone)
However seeing her classmates she seems to be the only one like this .....Anyone have any suggestions?

Her body is still recovering from the break so that may be something to do with it. You may also want to get her iron levels checked.

Some kids do find school wipes them out when they're in the infants and often mums don't like to admit these things (crazy but true). Have a look at her diet and make sure she's getting iron and maybe fruit to perk her up.

Good luck.

I think that it would probably be an idea to see your GP.
My DD has always slept much more than her peers, she is now 6 and in y1 and still needs 12 hours per night, her younger brother does not need as much sleep as her.
In her reception year, she frequently had dark circles under her eyes and we did bring her bedtime forward to 6.30 but she did not act, or complain of being, tired.
She did a simlar amount of extracurricular stuff to your DD and managed it all fine, though by bedtime her dark circles would appear and she would frequently act up which she does when tired.

Thanks -I think I will give it a week and be really OTT on her diet really stressing the iron and fruit side of things. Here ( Italy) they are in a pre school and so there is lots of playing and she is an active child , however tonight freaked me out as she adores the gym class and to see her in tears due tiredness after she had slept 12 hrs last night and more on Sunday !
If it continues we will be back at the doc!

Yes iron is a good idea. DD1 had black circles so I have started her on Floradix, which seems to help. Apparently it is not that high in iron though so you might want to try Spatone in orange juice.

Eeek not sure if I can get them here but there must be something similar. How did you find about low Iron was it a blood test ?

Pull her lower eye lids down and see if there are red vessels - they tend to be very pale if you are anaemic.

The body absorbs iron really well with orange juice - often they put Iron and Vitamin c together in tablets for this reason.

she may just be a child who needs her sleep - I was a far sleepier child than my brother was. He was 2 years older and at Primary he used to come to the infant playground at lunch time and I would lay on the bench with my head in his lap, him stroking my hair, so I could rest/nap. this ended when the dinner lady told him he wasn't to play with me as we were in different year groups and it was wierd that he was with his sister. Cow.

Definitely keep an eye on it though.

Thanks will take a look at her eyes later. Since December she has been having freshly squeezed Orange juice daily - I do 3 oranges between the 2 of them. Also with the vit supps as well.
I rang her doc who suggested I keep a food and sleep / activity log for a week - 10 days and then to take it to him if I still had concerns.
SOunds as if you have a lovely brother.......