Is there any way to get 8 year old to sleep in later?
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Anonymous
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My 8 year old wakes up by 5am everyday. If she’s up earlier the rule is she can’t leave her room or go downstairs before 5am. We have tried to make her stay in longer but she’ll play in her room and wake everyone up. She can barely keep her eyes open past 6:30pm and it’s hard to do things at night. Going out to dinner or going to a friends house becomes a pain because we have to leave since she’s so tired. She has sports and activities after school so it’s also hard to fit in homework because s she’s a mess trying to fit in dinner, shower winding down etc. (sports are not everyday.)
My main question is- is there a way to get her to sleep in later? If we keep her up later she does not change the time she wakes up…. Should we keep trying consecutive days to see if she’ll sleep in? It’s really starting to be a strain on the rest of the family—- hearing her moving around by 5am everyday and also having to make sure she’s in bed around 7pm because she’s a nightmare post 7pm. |
Anonymous
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What about adjusting her bedtime by 15 minutes every night for a week. So for every night of week one, start the bedtime routine 15 minutes later and she goes to sleep at 6:45. Then at week 2, go to 7:00pm. And on week 3, go to 7:15 and so on.
If you don’t already have room darkening shades, get those. As we approach June, the longer hours of sunlight will help her stay up later, but the earlier sunrise will go against you. Good luck. |
Anonymous
| Does she have darkening shades? White noise? I also agree with the other PP as far as pushing back bedtime slowly. |
Anonymous
| Yes to darkening shades. I could add white noise |
Anonymous
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You could also try to switch some of the activities to the morning. Homework could easily be done in the morning, especially if there’s reading involved. If she’s not too sweaty at night, showering could also be done in the mornings.
This could just be the way she’s wired so you may not have much luck fighting her too hard. |
Anonymous
I don’t ageee |
Anonymous
| She’s 8, not 18 months. I’d let her leave her room and also give her a consequence for being loud enough to wake other people up. Homework and showers can happen the morning. |
Anonymous
Cool story, bro. What are you offering in the way of ideas for OP? Put something on the table or go away. |
Anonymous
| At 8 she can either stay in bed until a more reasonable time (6:30? 7?) or read quietly. Should not be playing loudly enough to wake everyone up at 5am. My DD wakes up at 6 occasionally but she knows she has to be quiet and considerate so she doesn't wake us or the upstairs/downstairs neighbors up. 7pm is an early bedtime though. 7pm-5am is 10 hours which is probably sufficient. You need to keep her up til 8/8:30 if you want a more reasonable wake up time. |
Anonymous
OP here and I will change homework and showers to morning but mostly I’m trying to see if anyone has had luck shifting their kids schedule completely. I just wish she was more on schedule with our family and other kids her age because we will have to leave dinners because she is practically falling asleep at the table. Also to answer a few others posts- she’s not blasting music or yelling but our house is small so we can just hear her playing and I don’t think it’s reasonable for her to be awake for an hour and a half totally silently… hence why I’d love her to stay up later and sleep in a little… 6am wake up would be a dream! I do think this is just how she’s wired though so sounds like I’ll just have to deal and enjoy our early quiet time at night. |
Anonymous
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No, I think you could gradually move her up to an 8pm bedtime, but as the other poster said, it MUST be slow and gradual because if you keep her up to 8pm tonight shge'll still wake up at her regular time!
So do the 1 week 15 minutes later bedtime, 2nd week 15 minutes later, and so forth - do it for one week because moving too fast will backfire And I'd require she stay in her room until 6am, not 5am. She can play quietly or read in bed for 1 hour. Or she could do her homework (but can she do that alone without supervision? Maybe not at 8 yrs old and I'd DAMN well not be up at 5am helping with homework - that would not be good for me. And yes, the other family members matter, too She isn't a kid who needs 18 hours of sleep at night - she sleeps 7pm to 5am. So get her moved slowly, over 2 months, to 8:30pm to 6:30am. And make the rule she needs to stay in bed for 1 hour, until 6am. That way she practices a slow wakeup, not jumping out of bed and starting her day at 5am. And she needs to be quiet - reading or playing quietly, not renovating her room or thumping around with an active game, She can stay in bed and read, look at books, play with her stuffed animals.... And if in 2 months she still hasn't switched 1 hour later with this slow - 15 minutes - movement weekly, then perhaps you can just call her a Lark but I think you should give yourself 2 months to see if you can shift her. I agree, an 8 yr old should be able to stay up past 7pm! |
Anonymous
| Cool her room down a few degrees and get her a big fluffy blanket |
Anonymous
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My son was an early riser. Though he did make it to 8pm most nights, but that last hour was a struggle.
In the mornings he could use the bathroom, brush his teeth, and get a small snack (raisins, yogurt, banana, etc). Then he went back to his room to read or play quietly. He had headphones to listen to an audio book or music. He didn't start sleeping later until puberty/middle school. |
Anonymous
| It sounds like she has a strong Circadian rhythm and sleeps at a healthy time. I wouldn’t mess too much with it — if she’s well rested going into puberty that will help her whole endocrine system and health. I wish I could fall asleep early and wake early, I have the opposite problem and it’s much harder to adapt! |
Anonymous
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Move bedtime by 5-10 minutes a week. Yes it’s possible just move slowly.
Give her other ways to entertain herself without waking you in the morning, some kids just get up early but going to bed that early will inhibit her social life and school life as she gets older. I’d be more worried about that, hopefully wake up time moves as well. |