Tweens waking up too early

[ahisma]

Are you limiting liquids in the evening so he isn't waking to go to the bathroom?

Sound machine in use?

Maybe try a little yoga before bed?

It's not a bathroom issue and he does have a sound machine. He goes to sleep incredibly easily, but it can't hurt to try to switch up the nighttime routine.

[ahisma]

No idea. DS1 (9) had always been an early riser and we’ve never been able to solve the problem.

Does he get enough exercise? High protein bed time snack?


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Plenty of exercise - He has 3 recesses a day, walks to/from school and plays soccer. He's also outside a lot. He's always been an early riser, but this is SUPER early. Add to it the fact that he's afraid to be up alone...it's a long day for all of us.

I hadn't thought about a high protein snack - I'll try that.

[ahisma]

Is there a new noise? In the last few months I found out what was waking me up at that time - the paper delivery person pulling into the neighbor's gravel driveway to easily drop the newspaper on their step.

Is there a noise that he can hear at that time that you cannot? Just enough to bring him out of a light sleep?

Hmm...not that I'm aware of, but I'm asleep so who knows. His bedroom is at the back of the house and he has a sound machine though...maybe I should add a second?

[ahisma]

I don’t think this is a common problem with tweens (in contrast to toddlers!) I do think it could be anxiety and school related, even with a great situation and a great teacher. I feel like as kids grow and develop their ability to understand things grows and can cause anxiety so even in good situations that weren’t stressful before they can become such with an added comprehension of the social, emotional goings-on at school.

I will share one thing that has helped me with my anxious super early waking is getting more sleep. I know that sounds ironic but for me it worked. Have you tried an earlier bedtime? It might be enough to move the wakeful period so it aligns slightly better with an acceptable waking time.

I totally agree that sleep begets sleep. He's going to bed around 8 pm though, much earlier isn't really practical with sports and homework. I feel like 8 is pretty far on the early side though. Maybe we should try even earlier?

I'm wondering if the anxiety isn't coming from not having his brother at the same school this year (he's moved to the middle school). They didn't see each other much at school, but maybe it provided some comfort? The teacher is the dad of a girl in his grade and knows our family well - he had DS1 two years ago. He's baffled too.

[ahisma]

This might sound stupid, but what is he allowed to do upon waking?

If DS is allowed to get into his video games, he'll get up extremely early. If he's limited in what he can do, he magically can fall back asleep. If your son is being allowed to turn on the TV or play games, try restricting that to "normal" hours.

Totally a valid question. No screens before 7:30 am on weekdays, 9 am on weekends. He can read, draw, pet the dog...but no screens allowed. They don't have any electronics in their rooms and everything is kept downstairs in the living room, so I don't think they're circumventing that one.

[ezcc]

8 pm does sound pretty early- maybe try letting him stay up until 9? My 6 year old theoretically goes to bed at 8 but he really never is asleep before 9. It could be that he is tired from getting up so early and so much activity and you just need to shift everything later.

[Momit]

My 10-year-old has always been an early riser. Now that sports schedules, homework etc. keep him up until about 9, he is finally able to sleep past 5-5:30 am. We also got him a weighted blanket. One other thing we did was change the time the furnace/AC kicks into high gear (we have it set to run lower overnight and then more during waking hours). The furnace would roar to life at 5 am and then he would wake up minutes later.

[Dayzy]

Maybe let him go to bed at 9 and just do some reading between 8:30 and 9. My 10 year old DS goes to bed at 9ish and wakes up refreshed at 6.