How much sleep does a 5 yo need? Please help :(

[AtSea1979]

DD sleeps for about 9 hours, waking briefly once or twice in the night. She 5 years old, it sounds like a lot of sleep but it's far less than DS (9).
She has a solid bedtime routine and goes to bed between 7-7:30. She usually sings herself to sleep, falling asleep around 8:30. She is up at about 5am (any time from 4:30-6am). I have tried everything to increase her morning time. Putting her to bed later doesn't help.
Every 3-4 days she has a melt down day where everything is not right and she cries at the simplest things, clearly tired.

Her behaviour recently has taken a major nose dive. Her health visitor (2 years ago) suggested ADHD but school have no issues with her concentration and her behaviour is generally ok in school, not brilliant but more 'spirited' than destructive.
Her language skills are very advanced and she says the most hurtful things, in context. I have no idea where she learnt this. Her teacher says her peers do not say those types of things but neither does DS or anyone at home.

No one?

Hey. My dd will be 5 in September. She was never a great sleeper as a baby. Her bedtime routine id up to bed for 8.30pm. Story, cuddle, kiss. She will come down the once, then go back up. She's asleep by 9.15 sometimes later.

Dd will wake at 7.30 most mornings. My issue is the going to bed late as it ruins our evenings.

We don't have issues with her behaviour as such, she is normally really good. She too has a wide vocabulary of words, lots of questions that are advanced before her years. She's just got her pre school report saying that she's working beyond her age at 'end of reception level'.

I just think my dd doesn't need much sleep, and cannot just switch off.

Thank you for the reply. Your DD doesn't have much more sleep than mine. I guess there's no easy way, I have more evening time but get exhausted by 5am starts all the time.
DD said the other day "it's not my fault you are so stressed" I was so shocked and then discovered she'd copied it from a line in 'Bugs life' film, in context :(

My dd picks up sayings and words from other people/tv.

No, she doesn't get much sleep. But I'm in the thinking, dd doesn't need as much as other dc do.
We did fight with her as a toddler, trying to get her to bed at a reasonable time. But, we gave up in the end as nothing worked.

I'd rather a quiet evening. Especially when we have babysitters. As she can keep them on their toes

it sounds like she is tired and probably finds she can't switch off. We had this trouble with my 6yo DS and he was thinking of more and more excuses to get out of bed and come downstairs.

We do the whole bedtime routine (bath, stories etc) with his siblings then let him read quietly in bed to wind down. Since we started doing this he goes to bed much better and now rarely comes downstairs.

Thanks, at this stage I'm willing to try anything. Her behaviour is a worry and I'm tired and finding it all too much. I've recently had surgery so can't keep going up and down the stairs to deal with her and finding it hard sitting there while she's down right cheeky to others trying to help.

Hi AtSea. My dd also 5 is an early riser so I know how you feel. She is asleep by 7pm every night and always sleep through. She can wake any time between 4.45am and 5:30am bright eyed and raring to go. She talks loudly doing role play or singing when she wakes! She has always woken early and never sleeps in. Everyone told me this would change when she started school but it has made no difference. If she goes to bed later she wakes earlier. It is hard because the day really starts too soon for her and the rest of the family. By 4pm she has had it and we get tears.

Quorn its good to know I'm not alone in this one. DD has school, then swimming etc but never sleeps longer, just tears and tantrums.

My son doesnt seem to need much sleep either. He is 5. He normally gets between 9 and 9.5 hrs . He finds it hard to switch off and he used to keep saying he was scared of the dark and wanted the light on and constantly calling 'mum or 'dad'. We tried lots of things like story CDs and night lights. Nothing really worked until he got given a huge set of 47 Mr Man stories in a box. Now, after reading a couple of bedtime stories with him, he enjoys taking the books out, looking at the pictures, perhaps reading some of the words and then putting them all back in the box,in the right order. It seems to enable him to wind down a bit and relax and it stops him constantly calling out to us, which he used to do. Its been a couple of weeks now, and he is not bored with them yet. He still takes half an hr or so to go to sleep, but at least he is quiet... Just an idea...

DD has a good routine, she likes her story in bed and a song-along to frozen, then she carries on the singing until she falls asleep. About 50% of the time she messes about and I have to put her back to bed several times.

Some just seem to need less than others. My DD1 was a brilliant sleeper as a baby but by 4 or 5 she simply never went to sleep - would be up for hours, it was exhausting for us as we never seemed to get an evening and she was liable to keep her younger siblings, (who did then, and still do, sleep much more sleep) awake. If its any consolation once she was 6 she started reading well and our lives turned around, then started the battle to get her to turn off her light and keep it off, but really - that's such a minor battle in comparison to the endless sending her back upstairs and trying to get her to be calm and go to bed. So she might sneakily keep her light on until 10pm or use a torch reading instead of 9pm lights out.... well, so what.....really. You might find a similar breakthrough - no immediate light at the end of the tunnel but in a year or so she might well be able to just read her books from her 5am start until it's time to get up (you can live in hope!)

DS is 5yo (6 in Sept) and has been sleeping through the night since he was 3yo. He slept 7pm-5am for a good year and since then sleeps 8pm-6pm. Only when he's ill or having a "bad day" does he either wake up during the night. He's a very deep sleep though so nothing wakes him (made potty training a nightmare )