What time do your children go to bed? Early waking question

[fabulosa]

DS (4.8) has always been a good sleeper. Up to his fourth birthday he went for about 13 hours, this has gone down to 12 since then. Since he started school his bedtime has been approx 7.15pm, waking at 7.15am. However, in the last couple of weeks he has started waking at about half 6. He says he's hungry but, once up, is quite happy to watch TV and doesn't seem that bothered about breakfast. I know with him that there's not much point asking him if there's another reason as he can't really come up with a proper answer.

Is it likely that this is just a phase, perhaps caused by the lighter mornings or is he needing less sleep now that he's getting older? I don't know if I should make his bedtime later so that he'll sleep a bit later or try to encourage him to go back to bed. He's very shadowy and bad tempered by the early afternoon but won't have a rest.

I completely appreciate that to many families 6.30 is not an early start but it is for DS. Do other children of this age go to bed at this time or is it just far too early for him now?

It is summer. It is light earlier.

nearly summer.

This always happens with mine. Even though they have thick enough curtains. But then I wake earlier/easier when the mornings are lighter too

My DS has always been an early riser - used to be 5am. he's 7 and its usually 6/6.30 now (going to sleep about 8). To be that's about normal.

ds (3) is in bed for 7.30pm and gets up between 6.30am (normally for a pee) and 7am. dd(6) is in bed between 7.45 and 8pm and gets up around 7am (at the weekend!) but I sometimes have to wake her at 7.40am on school mornings!! They both have a digital clock in their rooms and arent supposed to come through till 7am which mostly works well

DD (3.7) goes to bed at 8 and is asleep pretty quickly. She will wake up anytime from 6-7am - very occasionally later. She has no daytime sleeps at all and hasn't done since around 13 months old. She has started sleeping almost 11 hours a night recently after a long phase of sleeping no longer than 10 and often less.

7:30-8pm for 3.8yo. She gets up somewhere between 6:00am and 7am. Changing her bedtime to later does not change her morning wake up time. Changing it to earlier means she wakes up earlier. She has gone through phases of earlier waking, no reason and it comes and goes. She has blackout blinds in her bedroom (velux, so completely dark in her room) so the morning sun does not wake her, but once she leaves her room and sees the sun is coming up, there is no chance of her going back to sleep.

You could try putting him to bed later at say 7:45pm for one week and seeing if it makes a difference? you can always change it back if it does not work. BUT, if you do that, it will not change the amount of sleep he gets, only the time he disturbs you wakes.

just a thought, but as well as the lighter mornings etc, could he be having a growth spurt, hence he's saying he's hungry. have you tried giving him some supper before bed, say a sandwich or something?

also we've found with ds (4.6)the earlier he goes to bed the longer he sleeps for, so if he's in bed later, he just gets less sleep iyswim. we rarely get more than 11hrs in one go.

ds 1 aged 12 bed at 8.00 reads till 9pm
ds 2 aged 9 same
dd 1 aged 5 bed at 7pm reads till 7.30pm
ds 3 aged 4 bed at 6.30pm after story
dd 2 aged 2 bed at 6.00pm after story

They all wake between 7 and 8am.

The 2 older boys stay up till 10ish at weekends.

8 o'clock. Then awake by 2am "I can't sleeeeeeeeeep". It's been a long 5 years.

get yourself some blackout material and velcro it to the window it works a treat.

Fabulosa - DD is 4.5 and she is doing exactly the same - until recently woke at approx 8am - now its about 6.30am - we have assumed that its due to the light mornings although does have black out blinds. It is causing us problems as she is tired after nursery but also won't nap (Unless we go out in the car where she will occasionally go to sleep) we've tried adjusting her bedtime but its making no difference

Just recently we have noticed our 3.4 year old getting up a lot earlier - 630 - 7am instead of usual 8am-9am with same bedtime. I have put it down to sunlight change as it co-insides with that. Need to work on blackout blinds so that light cannot penetrate round sides.

We have blackout blinds and blackout curtains and light still gets in! Last year we resorted to hanging thick blankets over the windows as well - giving a charming student squat effect - it looked grim but it did make a difference!

DC were sleeping later. I imagine by the time it starts getting light at 5am in mid-summer all worries about how the blankets look will vanish and I will have them up again to prevent 5am waking!

hatty that is why i velcro mine to the window not a bit of sunlight can get through it looks odd but i dont care it does the job

Sounds appealing. Can you add velcro to blinds - is it some kind of double-sided stuff? Does it come off easily without marking windows? Sounds very attractive! Where did you get yours from?

ds1 - 5, gets up about 6.15 regardless of what time he goes to bed. Tried various times with him and still gets up about same time. Got black out blinds, done the velcro thing and got blackout curtain linings as well. Early morning sun doesn't stand a chance . He has always been a crap sleeper.

ds2 - 2 1/2 sleeps well, gets up between half six and half seven. Bed 6.30 ish. No problems with bedroom too light etc.

I don't get why you can't by velux type blinds for normal windows they have clipped side runners and so the blind slides down and up along them completely flush from top to bottom. I have been known to pop up into DDs room in the day for a nap!

DD (3.5) goes to bed at 7, and wakes up at about 6.45am.
DS (1) goes to bed at 7 and wakes up at about 7.30.