A survey: how much sleep does your Year 1 5-/6-year-old get?

[policywonk]

DS1 gets up at about 7.15am, and his bedtime is at about 8pm, but increasingly he's saying that he's not tired. Left to his own devices he'd stay up until about 8.30/9 (and then go to sleep very quickly). Is this enough sleep?

I'd rather that he stayed up later and went to sleep quickly, rather than going to bed sooner and clumping around saying that he's not tired.

Always up at 7ish(depends on younger brother wh shares a room) but is in bed anywhere between 6:30 and 7:30. sometimes he plays quietly or reads (apparently to himself[hmm) and sometimes he goes straight to sleep it depends what he has done in the day

dd in bed by 7.30 and then reads a bit, then awake at 7.

ds goes to bed at 7.30 and is asleep before I've left the room! Up anywhere between 7 - 8, gets woken at 7.30 on school days.

Mine are reception (naerly 5) and yr2 (naerly 7). both go to bed about 7.15-7.30. ds2 (4) goes to sleep quickly and wakes early - between 5.45 and 6.30, so rarely gets more than 11 hrs and often less. Often seems overtired. ds1 probably doesn't sleep until 8 and then wakes about 6.45 - might sleep longer if he could. So they both seem to get about the same amount of sleep - if anything ds2 needs less but I can't really put his bedtime later than ds1s...

Thanks ladies. It's beginning to look as though DS1 is a bit of a freak then... Hope he hasn't inherited my reluctance to sleep.

I've been wondering exactly that! Ds1 is 5.5. He gets ready for bed, story read etc by 7.30. He then has to stay in his room, but can play/read quietly. Generally he goes to sleep between 8.30 and 9pm. He wakes around 7am.

So about 10 hours and about the same as your ds1, pw. Is he tired during the day at all?

my dds are 4, (reception) and 6 (yr 1) and both go together at 7pm on a weekday. They are so knackered from walking to and fro to school all week that they seem to drop off instantly every night. In the school hols I have trouble getting them to sleep before 8 though, as they seem to have much more energy. They get up around 7, depending on when their younger brother (16 mo) wakes up !

Stinky - I'm glad we're not alone! He doesn't seem tired, no - happy at school, doing well, happy to go to the park after school and fling himself around.

ds goes up at 7:30 but falls asleep about 8:30 -has to be woken at 7:30

not enough

he is in bed 8-8.30 and up by 7 most days

i would prefer a good 12 hours

About 10 hours a night (she's in Year 2 but a late spring birthday).

Does anyone know how much sleep they are supposed to get at this age? Are there any recommendations?

Looks like he just doesn't need that much sleep then! I'm not too bothered by it - I do enforce the staying in his room though, otherwise we wouldn't get much of an evening to ourselves.

we're similar here, stinkyfeet. up at 7, stories etc 7.30-8.00 at night, goes to sleep 9 ish.

When dd was in Yr 1 she would sleep 11 - 12 hours.

But in Yr 2 it was more like 10 hours, ditto Yr 3 if not slightly less.

It (sleeling hours) will increase in the next 2-3 weeks if previous years are to go by.

I think they need between 10-12 hrs

I'm not really worried about it - but DP tends to do DS1's bedtime and he puts DS1 to bed earlier than I would (around 8ish), so DS1 spends an hour coming in and out of his room saying he's not tired, he's hungry, he's thirsty... and DP ends up getting a bit ratty with him.

DS1 doesn't do much independent reading yet so we can't just tell him to read a book and keep quiet, and he seems averse to just lying there quietly. I guess the situation will improve as his reading gets better.

I'm hoping he might start going to bed earlier now the evenings are getting darker !

dd1 aged 5y4m
goes to bed 7.30
asleep by 7.45/8pm
awake by 6am-6.30am

we all need different amounts of sleep and we all have different sleep patterns ime

Can't do any harm eh, Stinky?

I think you're right that everyone has different needs/patterns, hapsty. I'm feeling a bit of obscure mother-guilt because I'm an owl and borderline insomniac, and I'm hoping that DS1 isn't following in my footsteps on that one.

Not an actual owl, you understand.

DD is same as hapstys.

Have to say, with DD, if she's not tired and she says so, we've always said its fine for her to play quietly in her room - ie read a book or play with her dolls or teddies. As long as she's having quiet time and resting then we are happy with her doing that.

DS doesnt need as much sleep as DD, but, he still goes up to bed at the same time, and we encourage him to stay there, but, again he knows he can play quietly if he doesnt want to sleep. They both have nightlights in order to do this.

OH DD cant read really yet. But it doesnt stop her making up stories or looking at the pictures.

We leave a small cup of water in her bedroom too to save the "i'm thirsty" calls

I think it's important for all children to have a quiet, wind-down time in the evening - even if they dont want to sleep.

If either of my two were allowed to stay downstairs they'd get distracted easily, or get too hyped up etc. They often mistake tiredness for hunger too and would be asking for sugary snacks.

DS is 4.5 and for the last 6 months has been averaging 10.5 - 11 hours a night. He usually goes to sleep about 7.30, and goes off very quickly, but wakes early, often about 6am, rarely later than 6.30.

It doesn;t seem enough to me, but he never seems to get hopelessly overtired.

I am waiting to see what happens when he starts FT school...hoping it will go back up to 11.5 - 12 hours again.

Frayedknot, that sounds very like ds2 - I can't believe he is getting enough sleep, and he does often seem quite tired, but there seems to be no way of getting him to sleep more!
I hate to tell you, but he has just started full time school - no difference so far in the number of hours sleep....