[mom22girls]

I don't even know if it can be done. I have a 5 yo who takes a long time to fall asleep (she's quiet, just processing) and she's also an early bird. Our bedtime is 7:30 and the rule is she must stay in her bed quietly until 7am. I suspect she falls asleep around 8:30 or 9pm and wakes around 6am, and keeping her up has never resulted in her staying asleep longer in the AM. To make matters worse, the sun is currently setting here at 9:55, and rising at 4:23.

I have room-darkening shades, but sunlight can still get through little slits. Anyone have any tips/tricks they use to keep kids sleeping? She will not take a nap during the day, and I have a really hard time even getting her to rest (I've got videos and I'm not afraid to use them).

We're having major crankiness (along with all the pleasantness of 5yo) at about 3pm.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Marsupialmom]

You could start by listening to her natural rythems more.

Some people do not need the same ammount of sleep as others. That 3pm crankiness doesn't necessarily mean she needs a nap but a quite time to read books, draw, meditate, et. I would make that a low stimulation and snacks to recharge time and forget a nap.

I would also change having to stay in bad to just being quite and respectful to others in the home. It can be misserable if you have to stay in bed and only serves to frustrate and/or get overly hungery.

http://appneurology.com/showArticle....leId=188500785

http://life.familyeducation.com/teen/sleep/42904.html (this is for teens but your need to honor your child's biological rythems).

 

[cdahlgrd]

Summer is a bad time to try an earlier bedtime, especially with a 5 year old. They are just so fascinated with the change in seasons and light (at least I was at that age and so is my ds).

However, she may need an earlier bedtime. I have found with all 3 of my kids, if I put them to bed tooo late, then it takes them WAY longer to go to sleep. For example, the twins have been fighting their naps all last week and naptime has gone from 1-2:30. Yesterday, I put them into bed at 11:45 and they were quiet nd asleep by noon and slept until 3. Same with the oldest. He has been staying up unil 9 and fighting bedtime. Last night, I was exhausted and had him in bed at 8. He quietly looked at a book for 5 minutes and went to sleep without a fight.

However, that said, there are some kids who need less sleep. I would first, try a little earlier bedtime, covering the windows with tinfoil, darkening the whole house for awhile before betime, etc. If that didn't seem to help after a couple weeks, then I would make sure she had activities to do while she was awake and others were asleep.

 

[mom22girls]

Funny you say coloring or reading...it's the coloring that she gets snarky about. She'll try something (drawing a star, cutting out a heart) and she'll get frustrated and start whining about it, or storm off. No amount of coaxing or coaching can help at that point. That's why I'm thinking she may be tired. If I get her outside instead, I'm wondering if I'm winding her up too much to be able to fall asleep at 8.

Maybe she needs less sleep in the summer, and the behavior is just 5yo behavior. It's just that if it rains in the AM, she'll sleep in a bit more.

Thanks!

-Heather

 

[katiecat]

I have the same problem with my 5 yo ds. It's so funny because he was always one to wake frequently yet he'd sleep enough total (interrupted) hours. Now he almost never wakes during the night but doesn't sleep long enough! I can't win.

I aim to get him to sleep between 7 and 8, sometimes he is awake later. But he almost always wakes before 6, sometimes even before 5. My rule is that I do not get out of bed before 6am but if he is awake - I am, too. So I also struggle with getting enough sleep.

With him, I think it's because he has a natural wake up time around 5am and then if he mind kicks in he's wide awake. The odd morning he does fall back to sleep for another hour or so. I have no idea what to do. Light or dark does not make a difference for him. He's been wide awake at 5am during the winter when it's still dark out.

I have no problem with that being the amount of sleep he needs but we also get the 4pm crankies. It's actually been much better lately but for a while it was total meltdown every evening soon after I got home from work. I do think some of this is overstimulation (made MUCH worse by him being tired).

 

[TEAK's Mom]

It's funny, I was just thinking about posting about my newly five year old's sleep, too.

My dd1 has never seemed to need as much sleep as other kids her age (even stopped napping before age two), but I worry that, right now, she is not getting enough. I have tried different bedtimes and it seems that she is just not ready to fall asleep until after nine (she just lays awake processing if she goes in before that time). Then, she is almost always up before seven in the morning. If we weren't seeing such an increase in stomping around and crankiness, I wouldn't worry.

Are five year olds just prone to fits of whining, anger, and intense frustration? Could it be developmental and not sleep related?

 

[Marsupialmom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TEAK's Mom Are five year olds just prone to fits of whining, anger, and intense frustration? Could it be developmental and not sleep related?

After having 3 I would have to say for many of them it is developmental. Gaining independence and frustration.

 

[mom22girls]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TEAK's Mom It's funny, I was just thinking about posting about my newly five year old's sleep, too. I have tried different bedtimes and it seems that she is just not ready to fall asleep until after nine (she just lays awake processing if she goes in before that time). Then, she is almost always up before seven in the morning. If we weren't seeing such an increase in stomping around and crankiness, I wouldn't worry.

That's my dd, processing. And I'm thinking now that she'd do that no matter what time she was in bed. When she was an infant, if she was overstimulated during the day (very easily, a car-trip or her mobile) she would scream herself to sleep (always in my arms).

After giving this a lot of thought, I think the real, real, problem is that she either wakes younger sis up (which makes my day more miserable, because she NEEDS the sleep) or she wakes me up (which makes my day more miserable because I'm 7 mos pregnant and NEED the sleep) and her crankies are magnified by mine!!!