10 year old waking up before 5am

[jubilee1]

Hi, I'm at my wits end with ds, now 10 1/2. He's always been an early riser, usually up between 530 and 6am, this didn't bother me, I'm a bit of a lark too, but it's gradually got got earlier since back to school in Sept and is now anti socially early. This week's latest has been 445.
He goes to sleep at 730pm and sleeps through, just says that he can't get back to sleep once he's awake. He's tried relaxation exercises and has no access to tv/electronics until after school.
During the summer holidays he went to bed about 9pm, still awake early and progressively grumpier.
Was hoping that change to middle school and a longer school day would wear him out and so help him sleep on, but not good. He can barely hold it together to do homework after school, so am trying homework between 6 and 7am, school bus leaves at 730am.
Any ideas to break this habit would be a massive help.

7.30 sounds an early bedtime for a 10yo. Can you try to make a plan for when the clocks go back that you could stick to? Getting him to do homework early sounds a good plan, unless he needs you to be awake to support that ...
Can he read in bed until everyone else is awake?

Agree that 7.30 is pretty early for a 10 to. Can you gradually make bed time later (10 mins per week?) and see if that helps over time?
Otherwise, suggests he maybe listens to radio quietly or reads in bed if he's awake early and can't sleep. At least he's resting his body.

He presumably goes to bed early because he is awake early. Try and move bedtime. See what time his friends go to bed and see if he would like to be the same as them. Also mine would never have fitted everything in by 7.30 as they did after school activities, tea, then homework, then free time then bed. Approaching 11 they went to bed at about 9 and at boarding school it was also 9 at age 11. I assume he does not wake you up too early and can read etc. but this seems, as other posters have said, a very early bedtime. Does he ever see any friends or do anything in the evenings to extend the day? If not, I would try and encourage this. Sleepovers?

I agree that 7.30 sounds a very early bedtime for his age - some activities and classes for 9-11-year-olds don't even start before 7pm, and my 10yo DD is up way later than that.

I think you need to gradually move his bedtime back, maybe by 10-15 minutes a night, until he is going to bed at 8.30-9ish (you may need to adjust mealtimes a little too). If he gets the amount of sleep he needs at the moment, that should mean he'd be getting up at a slightly more reasonable 6-6.30am.

I know you tried it a bit in the summer, but the lighter mornings and more relaxed routines may not have helped. Now it is dark much later in the mornings, his body clock should adjust better.

No one's body-clock is so firmly set that it is immovable - my SiL's daughter is also a persistent early riser, but manages to adjust to different time zones when they travel.

Thanks for your advice. Will try delaying bedtime gradually. He did a club last night and went to bed at 9, woke at 415! I'm a very light sleeper so when he's up, I'm up, am envious of dh and dd who sleep through anything. On the plus side I had all the housework done by 11 and am nearly finished the ironing, just need to stay awake through dinner and long enough to be civil to dh when he gets in!

Good luck - you may have a bit of a painful time for a while, as later nights and early waking make him tired and grumpy, but if you persist, the body's need for sleep should eventually win out.