Hi Mommies, I have posted on here before about issues with my son going to sleep at night. He just won't do it. We had finally figured out a method that was getting him to fall asleep early enough at night to get a big whopping 10 hours of sleep some nights. But, he started Kindergarten on Monday and now he refuses to go to sleep again. Everyone told me that Kindergarten would mean massive fatigue at the end of the day. He tells me everyday when I pick him up how super tired he is. But he won't go to sleep at night. I don't get it. He is a bear in the morning to get up now (this morning he wouldn't even eat he was fighting me so hard to stay in bed). Fortunately, he appears to straighten u p when he gets to school. I know he isn't getting anywhere near enough sleep, especially now.
Should I move his bedtime back earlier? IS he just too wound up by 7:30 to go to sleep by 8? I am getting him up at 7 am. That is how I started getting him to fall asleep somewhat earlier before was by backing up the wake up time. Did your kindergartner just become impossible to get to go to sleep for the first little while of K?
I wonder if your little guy is overtired and hitting his second wind at his usual bedtime? I would try to put him to bed earlier...try moving it up a half-hour and see if he's still in that 'tired' window, or if you need to go earlier. I know we are 'earlier' than some families, but we do a 6:30 'get ready for bed', in bed by 7 with stories, lights out by 7:30 and Kiddo is up and happy around 6:15a.m. or so in the morning, ready to go.
My daughter has a window and beyond that window she's either clingy and crying or silly and hard to get down. Her window is around 7:30, but I start reading with her EARLY... 6:45 to get it all in by 7:30.
My 10 year old daughter has always fought sleep. We found giving her some down time right before bed helped. We would put her in bed at 7:30 or 7:45, give her some reading time and then lights out at 8:00. There were several nights that she would get out of bed and sleep by the door so she could hear what was going on in the living room. The rule was she couldn't come out unless it was an emergency. Now that she is older we have moved her bed time to 9:00 but we still keep the reading time. There are nights that I will catch her up reading when I go to bed.
Is it full-day? Maybe not enough exercise? I personally don't think full day is appropriate for their developmental needs (unless they are doing daily gym and tons of movement). Twice a week he was gone full-day but after 11:10 is was an enrichment program until 4:30 where he ran around the gym/playground with friends, had gym or music, and played his heart out. So I'm all for him doing the full-day in that sense! But not academics.
We had half-day and then I ran him around like crazy afterwards on the 3 days he had no enrichment stuff. Sports class, etc. I chose classes that would make him run, get sweaty and red in the face for 45 minutes or an hour.
Because I have 3 other little ones, that was easiest for me to do the structured class. He would go to bed at 8 and get up around 8. Now he is in first grade and bed is at 7:30 (no complaints from him) but he's up at 7 or 7-30.
My daughter (kindergartener) goes to bed between 730-8 and wakes up at 6 am. She has PE every day and 3 recesses. She is usually OUT at bedtime and wide awake at 6am. She gets around 10 hours of sleep. Some kids need 12, others need 9. If he has to be up by 7 but you can't get him to wind down by 730, try having him wind down at 8. Also, no TV or electronic stimulation 1 hour before bed (if you have been doing this) or if you haven't, maybe allow him 1/2 hour before bed to relax him. All kids are different. Giving my kids a bath and reading books before bed signals to them that it's getting close to bed time. I have heard from MANY moms that during the first few weeks of school their children seem like they have been abducted by aliens because they are not their normal selves!!
My son would not function on that schedule. He does not need much sleep. We both went to sleep about 9:30 last night, which is really early for us. I had a headache and my son had run at the playground for about 2 hours. He woke up ready to go for the day at 5:30. He has not had a nap today and is still going strong and it's about 9:45.
Are they taking naps at school that is messing with his schedule? Does he have a recess at school? (My son only has 15 minutes. Not enough for all that energy!) Is there a lot of activity going on right before bedtime? If he's doing ok at school, I wouldn't worry so much about the morning. I hate getting out of bed in the morning, no matter how much sleep I got the night before!
