4 year old will not go to sleep and I am losing my mind

[jonderdonk4]

My 4 year old has regularly been staying up until 9:30pm lately and I am going insane.

I am a SAHP to 4yo and 2yo. The 4yo is in preschool three mornings a week which theoretically should tire him out! We also go outside as often as possible (we live in a cold climate).

Schedule as follows:
Up about 7:30am
Quiet time 1pm - 2pm (doesn’t nap)
Dinner 5pm
Bath, pjs, snacks, books from 6:30pm to 7:45pm
7:45pm bed

4yo will come out of his room, cry, scream, run around, turn his light on and play, do anything but go to sleep!

We’ve tried bringing him wordlessly back to bed, laying down for 5 minutes with him, a “pass” he gets to use once, nothing is effective long term!

Has anyone else dealt with this? How did you survive? I just need a break.

 

[brideforchrist]

@jonderdonk4 You’re asking your child to sleep from 7:45pm to 7:30am, which is almost 12 hours. Some kids are just lower sleep needs. My 3.5 year old only sleeps 10 hours a day, which it sounds like yours is doing too. She usually sleeps from 8pm to 6am… so yeah, the early mornings suck. But I’ve come to just accept it. It’s within the normal range of total sleep for her age.

I have no advice on how to get your kid to sleep more, but if you want them to go to bed earlier I’d recommend waking them up earlier.

 

[jonderdonk4]

@brideforchrist Was your child always low sleep needs? He was a super great sleeper until very recently

 

[brideforchrist]

@jonderdonk4 She was always low sleep needs, yeah. Didn’t sleep through the night consistently until she was 14 months old and naps were hard.

But kids grow and change. At 4 years old I think 10 hours is pretty normal.