Little Boy Sleeps 5 Hours Per Day....Only Here 8.5

[jen]

How old is the little guy? Has he been in daycare before? Is he an only child? You said he's only been with you a few weeks; is it possible this is a stress reaction?

[treehugger82]

He comes in at 710 am has milk, toast, cereal or oatmeal of which he eats very little and then he is sleeping by 730. I swear........he is in at 710 eating by 715 in bed by 725 and out like a light by 730.........Sleeps until 930. Then by 1130 he is done! And I mean D.O.N.E. Really done. He needs sleep by 1130 but he needs to eat...he cries at lunchtime cause he does not like my homemade meals.........so back to bed at 12-1230and he sleeps until shortly b4 mom picks up at 345 This is just not right!

He is not able to participate in anything. What do I do?

I had a neighbor once who asked me to watch her kids. This was a lifetime ago when I lived in military housing. She got a job, so she needed someone for a few hours. Her kids were very similar to this little boy you describe. After a few days, I asked her flat out how they are sleeping, and she said, "oh, I try to put them to bed, but they just don't want to go to sleep, so I let them stay up with me. I think they just miss their dad (gone, military)." She said they were up sometimes until 3 a.m. b/c they just "wouldn't stay in bed". I could not believe it! Her poor kids barely played outside, had no friends and did not know what to do if they were up during the day and couldn't just space out in front of the t.v. (which I didn't allow b/c of my own kids). They cried very easily b/c they were so overtired and out of whack with their sleep schedule.
I started realizing that the t.v. was the only way they stayed up during the day, so I kept it off and let them sleep until they woke up. My kids and I just went on about our day and they would snooze away! When they woke up, I made sure they ate enough, b/c I worried that with the erratic schedule they didn't get enought good food instead of "snack food"(they ate A LOT of sugar snacks at home). They seemed better after a while, but never got on a regular schedule. They are teenagers now, and I still keep in touch with their mom, who has since had another baby....who stays up with her all night....and her teenagers who I watched pretty much mind themselves....she's sending one to a sort of "boot camp" for teenage boys now b/c she says he has not self discipline and she can't handle him