6 year old taking hours to switch off and get to sleep

[GoodVibesOnlyPlease]

Bed time is still 7pm because he is awake by 6am every morning, without fail. But he is taking hours to fall asleep, he'll sometimes come out and tell us he can't get comfy or can't stop thinking sad thoughts.
I'm not particularly bothered about him waking early because we are generally up for the day anyway but how can I help him to just switch off and go to sleep quicker?
We tend to eat at 6pm together as a family, shower, story, lights off. He has white noise that he insists on having full blast, he does have quite a bright night light which he will not turn off.
Would meditation before bed do any good?

Mine is the same. Listens to the calm app each night which seems to help. Also dinner is too close to bedtime, can you eat earlier at 5 or 5.30? Hard to sleep if you are still digesting and that all sounds a bit of a rush. If not, I'd try and 8pm bedtime - you might find he actually then falls asleep quickly

I would say he needs less sleep, and to knock bedtime back a hour. When mine were 6 they weren’t going to bed till 8.30/9pm and were still getting up around 5/6am.

It does seem like his bedtime is too early. He's up at 6 and you put him to bed at 7. My 3yo goes to bed at 6 and is up at 5. He obviously needs more time awake. I'd take him to bed at 8 and I bet he'd sleep quicker because he's actually tired

We have tried earlier meals but he just wants to eat again later.
We might have to give a later bed time a try. My main concern is we knock it back to 8pm and he's still tossing and turning at 10pm!

Yes I’d try the later bedtime. My dd is the same and goes to sleep around 9pm and wakes up around 6am. Some kids just don’t need as much sleep as others.

Story CDs, calming music CDs, there’s loads of choice for children. Or a meditation app for kids. Both my DDs couldn’t go to sleep without listening to something.

i couldn’t eat dinner and go to bed within an hour!
dinner needs to be earlier or bedtime later.

Do you have a bath ? Mine used to enjoy long soaks still at that age. Then after his book, could you try 15min of audible book at 7pm, with lights out and head on pillow - just lying down relaxing and listening?

plus Id feed him earlier but allow a small snack at bedtime. Even glass of hot milk / chocolate.

mine were complete routine freaks and we did the same thing every night , but I found that helped me and them (Bath book bed!)

Could you maybe move the emphasis from sleep time to quiet time? Still take him upstairs at 7pm but encourage him to read or play quietly, colour or book or something similar that he enjoys but is calming. Try this before moving his bedtime back an hour.

Later bedtime, definitely. My six year old takes ages to switch off, he usually goes to sleep around 8.45/9pm but we start bedtime at 7.30.

Dim that light over time. His brain doesn’t realise it’s night time. No need for total darkness but there needs to be a clear distinction between day levels of light and night levels of light.

That was me as a child. And I’m still the same now. It can take me hours to fall asleep. Let him look at books and or draw in bed. Remove the bright nightlight and replace with a soft one. Remove the white noise.

Later bedtime. My 5 year olds are usually in bed at 7.30 and asleep by 8/8.30. Always awake by 6.15…

His dad doesn't get home until 6pm so we really try to eat as a family each night. As much as I agree it is late, they would be eating on their own earlier. We also have a 3 year old.
We try not to do baths during the week just because of time and they go crazy in the bath!!
I'm going to try giving him an hour in his bedroom between 7 & 8 to read, etc. And then say bed at 8pm. See if that helps him.