How much does your 13 year old sleep?

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DD is sleeping so much - she falls asleep as soon as she comes in from school and sleeps until dinner is ready around 6.30, she sleeps until at least lunchtime on the weekends and would sleep well into the afternoon if we let her. And these holidays she’s been the same. She fell asleep after dinner last night and only woke up at 11.30 to get changed and brush her teeth, slept till 10 this morning and I was surprised she was awake - but then we were going to bake together this afternoon and when I went to get her at 2, she was sound asleep and she’s still sleeping and now says she doesn’t feel like baking any more. I’m trying to see if I can persuade her to get up and get out for a walk in a little while, just to get her out of that bedroom and get some fresh air!

Is this amount of sleep normal? She has had Covid twice that we know of, and another time right at the start which we think was Covid but it was at the very very beginning, and it’s been since then that she has been sleeping so much more - I struggled to get her up during lockdown. I did speak to the GP on the phone at one point but she didn’t seem interested.

My 13 year old usually goes to bed around 10:30 and generally wakes naturally at around 9 ish.
For school she is up before 7am.
She never sleeps during the day and manages very happily on the 8-9 hours she has during a normal school week.
Your DD sounds like she’s sleeping a lot to me and I’d be concerned if it was my child.
Start keeping a record of how many hours she’s sleeping every 24 hours and then back to the gp if I was you.

DS is a bit like this, especially during term time, school can be very tiring and teens do need a lot of sleep. This summer hols he's almost become nocturnal, his sleep patterns have almost completely reversed and he sleeps most of the day but is up very late. It does sound a bit unusual though, if it is disrupting her plans, maybe she needs a blood test to check for anaemia?

My ds slept for 9-10 hours 10pm - 7am normally, with longer at weekends.

But never during the dy. That does sound slightly unusual. Does she have access to the internet overnight? or is she sleeping solidly through?

I'd track it for a week or two, and then ask your GP what they think.

I think I'd be concerned by that much sleeping. Mine has not slept more than about 10 to 12 hours in 24 since he was about 13.

It doesn’t sound normal to me. DD is nearly 13 and after school she has activities 3 x a week so definitely doesn’t sleep as soon as she comes in. She goes to bed around 9pm and reads for half an hour. She’s up at 7am for school. Weekends she has to be up by 8am for an activity on Saturday. Sunday she’ll lie in til 9.30ish. She never sleeps in the day unless she’s poorly.

That sounds excessive to me.

My 12 year old sleeps 9 til 7.30 in the holidays, 6.30 in term time - often with a slightly earlier to sleep time.

My 14 year old more like 10 til 6.30 term or holidays.

I'd calculate how many hours in 24 hours she is sleeping. Sounds like yesterday she slept pretty much 8pm- 10am, then napped again - so well over 16 hours a day when not restricted by school? Then go back to the GP with numbers.

Thank you everyone, I’ll keep a note of it and see if I can speak to the GP. She doesn’t have internet access overnight but I wonder if she’s reading 🤔

As soon as I started reading this I thought Long Covid should be ruled out.

Fatigue, brain fog/poor concentration are 2 of the main symptoms.

GP should do blood tests and refer to Long Covid clinic if there’s nothing picked up.

Theres helpful management advice if it is long covid but no quick treatment unfortunately.

Getting in from school and sleeping was the first clue my 13 year old had long Covid. He’s diagnosed now and is having treatment but will still sleep 16/18hrs in 24.

I used to be like this at age. Was due to very low iron (from heavy periods I likely expect). Teenagers are known to sleep a lot but the day time naps would Concern me.. It happened again when I was at uni and I could sleep 17 hours in a 24 hour day..

Yes! I think that's ok. I played a lot of sport and would nap after work until dinner!

I thought exactly the same. I had similar sleeping patterns and it was due to low iron. I still suffer now at 42 and if my levels drop I could quite easily sleep the day away. Take her to your GP, a simple blood test can detect anything.

My 13yo sleeps 11/12 hours on weekends / holiday time and 8/9 on school nights