Question
I just got a note from school saying that my 5yo son is falling asleep on his desk after lunch. He is 5, turning 6 soon. He sleeps at 8 PM, but he has always woken up between 5 and 6 AM. He gets up early, it’s always been like that. I told him to splash water on his face, but honestly don’t know if he is going to do it.
Any tips?
Answer
He is currently getting 9 hours of sleep over night. That is on the low range for his peer group. Most children in his age group sleep 10-12 hours in a 24 hour span.
The fact that he always wakes up between 5-6am is normal. We all have a biorhythm to sleep. What is set in stone usually is our wake up time. It happens to adults as well. The only difference between us and children is when we wake up at our usual early time and it's the weekend, we go back to sleep. Most young children won't do that.
It is easier to bring up the bedtime than to change the wake up time. If he sleeps 30 minutes more it may make a difference.
The way to push back bedtime is to do it in 15 minute increments. If last night he went to bed at 8pm then today he can go to bed at 7:45pm and keep pushing back until you get to 7:15-7:30pm BUT don't keep pushing back 15 minutes until he falls asleep easily.
Here's a video I did a while back on getting children's bedtime right that might help explain this process: Getting your Sleep Routine Back on Track for School