Start of School Sleep Issues

[gentlymade]

I have a four, soon to be five year old who has just started preschool three mornings a week. He has not taken a nap for about the last year. Before that he slept for two or three hours every afternoon. Then one day he just stopped. I do insist on quiet time in the afternoon and he will lie down and look at books for the entire time his little brother naps, but no matter how tired he is, he will not sleep. He goes to bed at 7:30 and sleeps until around 6:30.

This wasn't really a problem before he started going to school. He seemed well rested with that amount of sleep. But school really wears him out and by dinner he is just not himself because he is so tired. I don't really know what to do. I can't MAKE him sleep at nap time and he already goes to bed pretty early. Any suggestions on how to make sure my little guy is getting enough rest? Thanks mamas!

[tbone_kneegrabber]

I would mostly just wait for him to adjust.  He seems to already be going to bed pretty early and then resting at quiet time.  I know my kid starts going to bed earlier as winter approaches (he is pretty much set to the sun, so he goes to bed late in the summer and early in the winter).

Does he wake up on his own at 6:30? Or are you waking him?  Can he sleep longer in the mornings?

[JudiAU]

I think you have to simply let us his body adjust. He will either adjust to the demands of his new schedule or he'll add a bit of extra sleep. It is normal to have increased tiredness with a big change with some cranky time in the afternoon.

[gentlymade]

Thanks guys. I figured that there was no magic answer here, but just thought I would post in case I was missing something obvious. BTW he is waking up on his own. I try to never EVER wake a sleeping child. In my experience that is just asking for trouble! 

[parsley]

We're dealing with basically the same thing around here (though my DD is 5 days a week at school and has always been a terrible sleeper).  And, I've definitely been worrying about this!  The one thing we try to do that might help you is encourage DD to stay in bed a little longer in the morn.  Sometimes with some cuddles she'll doze for another 20-30 minutes.

[meemee]

every grade suffers this.

dd is in 5th. the adjustment is what i hear from parents. i recall all the way from K - kids need the first month to adjust to the new schedule.