My son wakes up at 5 in the morning!

[Iza1]

My son just turned 9. He was diagnosed at 7 and we are not on any meds. He has started waking up at 5 AM every morning since the schools closed because of the pandemic. He usually sleeps around 9 and used to wake up around 6:30-7:00 before, With the pandemic and and home schooling process, he has been waking up at 5 am since late March. When he wakes up we all wake up including his little sister. Otherwise, he will play computer games as soon as he wakes up (another bad habit that he has gotten during the pandemic) I am also not sure if it is the reason he is waking up that early. We tried unplugging the wireless before we go the bed but he still wakes up at that time. I tried over the counter Zarbees sleep gummies but that did not help. I do not want to put him on sleep meds. Did anyone have such experience or any suggestions?

[Hidden]

I believe you can get a melatonin with slightly more mg. Zarbeez I think has 1mg.

Other kids brands have 1.5 mg or slightly more.

[Aspen797]

Sleep is so hard. Our son is an early riser. We've accepted 6:00 am as a wake up time, but require him to stay in bed and read if he wakes before then. If he does as requested he gets access to the things he enjoys once we're up, but not before. Otherwise he'd be gaming too! Sleep begets sleep so we still have a bedtime 9 hours before the okay to wake time.

Regarding gaming/internet, we just set up a new router with parental controls. It's awesome! You can set screen time hours for kids individually, choose which devices, block content, and have virus protection included. Highly recommend. Best of luck. Early waking is the worst!!

[Iza1 in reply to Aspen797]

Omg that’s awesome! I definitely have to check that out! It is such a pain to unplug the wireless every night and do the set up again in the morning. Thank you so much! I also tell him the stay in bed and read, but he walks out of his room and come to our room amd then to his sisters so he wakes us all up.

[Frida44 in reply to Iza1]

My son is dyslexic - so for him I allow him to listen to an audio book rather than read if he wakes early. He's an early riser too - 6am sometimes earlier. Definitely no gaming at the early wake time and no gaming 1 hour before bed. Melatonin has helped us.

[virgo02]

My son is 13 and he has adhd. He started waking up between 4 and 5am before the pandemic started and now besides the 2 pills I have to give him every day, I have to give him a pill at night just to stay asleep. I even let him go to bed at 10 just so he'll stay asleep but that doesn't even work, half the time 😒 I feel ya 🤛

[Hidden]

As you know, sleep challenges are common for people with ADHD, so consider a slightly higher dose of natural melatonin (1-3 mg if physician approved) along with things like: a bath with lavender infused magnesium salts (Epson salts) or a shower mist. My son prefers a diffuser in his room at night and loves the lavender essential oils. I also have given him massages with oils, but typically a last resort when he won’t get to sleep. I find that rubbing his back or shoulders and neck area helps relax him and he tends to sleep longer. Lastly, if you’re not on a strict morning schedule, consider pushing bedtime about 30- 45 minutes. That works for both of my children and they still get their 10 hours of sleep! CHAAD has some webinars and articles on sleep challenges that you can reference as well.

[Iza1 in reply to Hidden]

Unfortunately pushing the bedtime never worked for us. I tried to put them to sleep at a later time before, and we had no luck. We have no problem with falling asleep, that usually does not take long at all. I lay down next to him, and rub his back every night, he loveees it and reuests it every night. The problem is he can not stay asleep after about 5 AM.

[Beantrees]

I don't have any advice or suggestions, but I have an early riser too, but thankfully her normal wake up time is 7. Her bedtime has creeped later and later now that school is out and even if she sleeps at 11 she is up at 7. No meds, 8 yo, recently diagnosed ADHD, primarily inattentive but also pretty hyper at times.

Good luck, you are not alone!

B