HELP! My 5 Yr Old Has Sleep Issues!

Pasty B,
it's going to be hard @ first but if you stick to it. It will payoff in the end. First you must start a nightly routine this way he'll know that it time for bed example: bath,story ect... second once he's in bed if he starts to cry let him cry(this is the hard part)the key is consistency. I have been down this road with my 4 yr old. I also found that as it gets closer to bedtime we start claiming down the activies around house to set the mood. I have a 1yr old and we put her down first that way he has to be quite becasue she sleep. you may find once he starts school and is up all day it maybe easier to get him to go to bed. I have this great book call Healthy sleep habits happy child by Marc Weissbluth, M.D. it was big help to us when we trying to get my son to sleep. hope everything works out good luck.

I know just what you are going through. We had our 6 yo in our bed until I got pregnant. I finally got him into his own bed by reading him a story or 3 and falling asleep with him until I was too pregnant. Finally I just started his routine~ pjs, brushing his teeth and story and I would leave and come back and check on him . It did take some threats and bribes. If he styed in his bed all night I would let him put a sticker on his "Coles a big boy and stayed in his bed all night" sheet. After 10 stickers he could go to the toy store for a prize. He only wanted 2 trips to the store. Our 2nd was born 2 weeks before school so it was kind of hectic. Good luck.

Hi P.! Try waking your son up at 7:am. It will be hard and he will probably be very grumpy, but don't let him go back to sleep. Stick him in the bath/shower if necessary to keep him from going back to sleep. Do NOT let him take a nap. Put him to bed at 8pm, I bet he will fall right off. If he does not wake up early the next morning, wake him up again and repeat until his routine changes. Good luck!

Hi P.! Please do not feel like a bad mom. All kids (like adults) have their own natural sleep schedules and have to be "trained" to be on a different one. I have 3 kids, 2 of whom are school aged (6th and 3rd grades this year). The younger one has never had trouble getting up early and going to sleep early. But my oldest is a "night owl" and is very proud of her night owl distinction. Every year when school gets out for the summer, she loves to stay up late and will sleep until noon some days. Most days she is up by 10. However, about 3-4 weeks before school starts, I let them both know that it is now time to get back on the "school schedule". That means that 4 weeks out, they get their baths and are in the bed by 11 and will be woken up by 9. The next week they will get their baths and be in bed by 10 and will be woken up by 8. The third week, bath and bed by 9 and woken up at 7. That way, the last week should be the week they start school and they are bathed and in bed by 8:30 and are ok to be woken up at 6:30 for school. I have been doing this with them for 5 years now and it seems to work quite well with them. It allows them the freedom of summer time that all kids enjoy when possible and eases them back into their school time routine without too much headache. It's a lot easier than suddenly saying...Ok..you are going to bed at 8:30 and getting up at 7.

One thing I do know is that your son will probably be so excited that first day of school that he will get up without any problems and when he gets home that first day, he will be so tired, he will go to sleep without much problem either!

I hope that you might find this idea helpful. I really couldn't think of any other way to do it myself and this website wasn't available when my kids started school. :-) There are probably some other moms out there that can provide some other ideas.

Best of luck to you and your son as he begins his educational journey.

T.

Hi P.,
I feel your pain. My 22month is a late sleeper also. I think if you start waking him up earlier he'll be okay. Just start waking him 30mins to 1 hour earlier each day, so it's not a complete shock to him. If not he'll wind up adjusting when he starts schools. I take my child to daycare at 7am, and I was worried it was too early at first, but it's amazing how well they adjust once they've began the routine. So, don't worry too much, just start slow and get him adjusted. Good Luck!!

S.

It certainly sounds as though you have your hands full! Do you think that he's trying to get extra attention from you now that you have a second child? Maybe if he has special time w/ you (or husband)each evening, just 1:1. it'll help
Try to follow the same routine each night Give him a 10 minutes warning, then a 5 minute warning so that he knows when he needs needs to finish his game as it'time to start getting ready for bed (No children like to have sudden changes in their plans) Stick to the time table even if he wants to do alittle more yet! Finish the evening with the same activity possibly ending with a warm bath and/or milk followed by his favorite story. Wind the evening down the same each night don't break the routine. Give him a big hug and kiss Goodnight and turn out the light and leave. Mine would often call for a glass of water etc etc. So I would leave a glass of water next to him but he would always find something else! When he got up I would just return him to bed - firmly - w/o anger or pleading - with as little conversation as possible. Repeating clearly - that it was time for him to go to bed. (He wants your attention because of course ANY attention is better than no attention at all!) Trade off w/ your husband and keep to the same script. It takes a while. If he starts to cry on his way back to bed - just soothe him by saying that it's OK, he's fine and that he needs to go to bed now. If he says that he wants to stay with you reply no, that it's Mom and Dad's time now, and you will be spending time w/ him tomorrow. If he says that he's fringtened of the dark - give him a night light and if he fears monsters then give him a spray bottle of water that will scare them away.
Hope that some of this helps - I know that it took some time for me w/ my guys - but was well worth it! Good luck D.

P. B.

Don't feel bad for letting him go to sleep so late. What different does it make it you have no need to get up early. My boys too will be starting school at the end of the month. I also have to change their sleep schedule. They have been going to sleep later and I let then wake up on their own. YOu might have to start waking him up early little by little so that he will be sleepy earlier. I'm not saying wake him up at 7:30 after he went o bed at midnight, but maybe 9:00am.Then maybe he will be sleepy earlier thet night. If not make it earlier the next morning. You have a week or so to play with the times. You should start now to get him adjusted. I have to start this week too. I hope this helps you a little.

D.

Here's what comes to mind. Is your son taking a nap in the middle of the day? If so, maybe you should cut that out. Is he having any drinks or food (like chocolate) that contain caffeine in the afternoons or evenings? If so, cut those out. I started letting my kids have their dessert in the early afternoon instead of after dinner, so the sugar & caffeine wouldn't keep them up. Another question... is your son afraid of the dark or afraid that he's going to have a bad dream? If so, perhaps that needs to be dealt with so he doesn't feel afraid to go asleep. Here's another thought: start waking him up at the time he'll need to get ready for school this week (before school starts)and then maybe he'll be tired from getting up so early that he'll go to bed earlier and get on his new schedule before school starts.

If all else fails, check out a copy of Dr. Ferber's book on Solving Your Child's Sleep Problems. Not sure if that's the exact name of the book, but it's a classic!

Good luck!

I used to worry about my son too. He started preschool in the Howard County Public Schools when he was 3 and he is now 5 and starts kindergarten next week. I worked two jobs and didn't get home til 9:45 so on purpose we kept him up late usually til around 10:30 or 11, so I could see him and he would sleep til 10:30 or so too. I put him to bed around 8 about 2 weeks before school and I made sure I woke him up no later than 8 and no nap. By the 3rd day he was crawling into bed himself. Up til that point I couldn't even get him to go to sleep without me laying with him and if I wasn't there he would call for me. All kids are different and just because he doesn't sleep like other kids does not make you a bad parent. Good luck. I feel your pain and sleeplessness here. It does get better eventually.