So good to hear all these! I totally agree chocodog! So nice to be able to homeschool! We live in the country and the bus comes a little before 6:15!! OH my! Can you imagine getting up at 5:30? Although I suppose we are spoiled!! That is what kids had to do on the farm! 🙂
And Wendy, my kid would prob like the 11-9 too! The boys usually are in bed by 8:30…sometimes 9 if playing w/ dad.
My girls are 9, 7, and 4 1/2. All are in bed by 9:30. 2 oldest dds sleep in same room and are up by 8:00 a.m. Youngest sleeps in until 8:30 or 9. We are later waker-uper’s in our house. I’m in bed by 11:30 and up around 7:30 pm. I’m not a morning person. And 7 and 4 yr old still nap with me.
I have heard good things about melatonin, but I would check with your pediatrician first. I have friends who highly recommend it after having great success using it with their kids.
We were using melatonin (and it did work) but switched to magnesium. We have found magnesium to be helpful in aiding sleep. My 12yo ds takes 375 mg. each evening. He weighs about 90 lbs. (41 kg), and the dose recommended to us was 9 mg of magnesium per kg of child’s weight.
We just had misgivings about the long-term effects of giving a hormone such as melatonin. Magnesium generally helps the muscles relax, thus promoting sleep. Of course, all of this information was gleaned from various medical and naturopathic sources as we have been researching autism and sleep disorders, autism and mineral deficiencies, etc.
As mentioned before, it would be a good idea to check with your pediatrician, health care provider, or a naturopath you trust. I’m not a doctor, so I’m just relating what we’ve tried and found helpful.