Does my 6 year old only need 9 hours sleep?

[Meowingtwice]

DS is 6. We have a good bedtime routine and he's in bed for 7:20 for stories, teeth cleaning etc and asleep at 8:20pm. However he gets up between 5am and 6am almost every day even though he doesn't need to be up until 6:30.

Some nights about 1-2 times a week he tosses and turns - then he might be up at 6. If he sleeps well it's 5am.

We have a baby - the baby stays in bed later.b

He has ridiculous amounts of energy - I rarely meet another kid with his level of energy. He's doing quite well at school, enthusiastic, does sport after school and at weekends etc..

However I've noticed his mood can be pretty off at times. About once every 2 days he'll be really angry and yell over something- so maybe this is a sign he's tired?!

So I'm wondering if we're sending him to bed too early or too late?

Any advice please? Thanks

It all depends on the child but I have a high energy almost 5 year old who needs 12 hours a night or she’s terribly grumpy. She’s sleep by 7pm at the latest and wakes up between 6:30/7am, any earlier and bedtime that night is a nightmare.

Thanks. What are the signs she needs more sleep ie how would she be if she had 10 hours? Just wondering if mine is sleep deprived but still energetic

General grumpiness and an attitude before bed, she’s the most polite girl 90% of the time but when she’s tired you know. We find the earlier we get her down the longer she sleeps.

Thanks. Sounds similar. Maybe he needs a bit more sleep then!

A bit younger, but my nearly 5 year old is exactly the same. A total bundle of energy with no off switch who sleeps for 9-10 hours a night. I've tried everything to get him to sleep more but it hasn't worked, so I just accept it!

I think generally early rising is genetic and it's just one of those things you can't do anything about - but that bedtime does sound quite late for a 6yo, to be honest. Is there any possibility if getting her down to sleep a bit earlier, maybe stories 6.45 and asleep for 7.15-30?

My 6 year old is asleep at 9-9:30pm and up at 6:30am. I think it’s fine. He’s waking up naturally. If he truly needed more sleep, he’d sleep more.

Mine would have needed more like twelve

20-30 mins earlier would be possible. We tried about a year ago and it made it worse! But we could try again if that bed time sounds late.

My 6yo goes to bed at 8, but often doesn’t fall asleep until 8.30, and then is up at 7, so gets 10.5-11 hours.

I think he would really struggle on 9 hours. But there is also no chance at all he’d be falling asleep before 7.30. You could try shifting bedtime later and seeing if he might sleep later?

My 5 year old is very similar! I'm so jealous of people who have children that sleep 12 hours and it's even worse when they tell you that!! Your son may well be getting overtired, there's no harm in starting the bedtime routine a tad earlier to see if it'll help. If he starts waking even earlier it might just be he's just not a big sleeper. My son sometimes sleeps longer with an earlier bedtime but on other days wakes up at early o clock. 😴

Thanks everyone.

We managed just 15 mins earlier and he actually slept much better and a bit longer so 8pm-6:15 (9h45).

No way he could sleep 12 hours as if he was that sleep deprived he would surely be falling asleep in class, falling behind etc - I checked and he doesn't seem tired. But everyone is different- I don't doubt this is necessary for many kids.

But it sounds like he does need a bit more sleep (20 mins- 1hr more) than he's recently been getting and it might explain why he sometimes gets really angry/upset (slightly more than the average I think). We'll try a bit earlier this week and keep adjusting to see what happens. Fortunately he is happy going to bed earlier - he doesn't really notice.

That's great news! Hope he keeps it up

Actually he has! The extra 15 mins in bed has caused him to sleep in until 6-6:30 everyday so far.

Congratulations! Now I need to get mine to do the same thing. 5.15 for the past week 😭

My DD6 have around 11 hours she asleep by 7:30pm and woke up around 7am.

Yes it's definitely worth a go. Someone hes actually taking a long time to settle so still asleep for a similar time. But the action of settling him earlier improves the quality and quality of sleep. Maybe he just needs a lot of time to calm down and relax.

My 5yr old does between 9-11 hours (11 hours is rare) depending, she takes a while to wind down too, some kids are just set to “GO” permanently.