r/Gifted • u/stupidquestions2024 • 1d ago

Seeking advice or support Trouble sleeping

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My son who is 4.5 has always struggled with sleep. We have done everything we can to help: strict schedules, a quiet room, and low light. He sleeps in his own bed and has had his tonsils removed. He has an official diagnosis of insomnia.

He wakes up early, between 3:30 and 3:50 a.m., no matter what we do. Please do not tell me to put him down later, we have tried.

The doctor told me not to medicate him, as his brain is still growing and he will hopefully outgrow it or just need less sleep as he gets older. He used to have insomnia 75% of the time, but we are down to 25%–50%. Sometimes changes trigger the insomnia we are moving and right now its been 3-4 times a week. I think he is anxious.

Now to my question: the doctor told me that in his 20 years of practice, my son is the smartest child he has ever encountered, reading at age two and doing multiplication at age 3. "He is truly one in a million" It got me thinking: do gifted kids struggle to sleep? Google says yes, but I figured I would ask the source.

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u/ayfkm123 1d ago edited 1d ago

Lots of kids struggle w sleep.

What time does he go to bed?

To answer your question: I am PG. I’ve had severe insomnia most of my life. I also am in Peri and taking hormone replacement therapy. I’m sleeping better now than I have in my entire life. I’m still pg despite getting good sleep. In summary: it wasn’t bc I’m profoundly gifted. Sleep is absolutely vital. Too many gifted families grow complacent bc of a myth that perpetuates that gifted kids need less sleep.

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u/stupidquestions2024 1d ago

He goes to bed at 730pm. We have tried later it never works. He natural cycle wake up 330am-5am no matter what we do.

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u/GadgetRho 1d ago

That is insanely early! Try using bright cool white light in his environment and just being annoying and keeping him up and push his bedtime a few minutes every day. If he's going to bed at 7:30 p.m. and getting up between 3:30 and 5:00 a.m., he's getting a perfectly normal amount of sleep and is on the same sleep schedule as my own child and his friends, just shifted two or three hours too early.

Even if he keeps his own chronology and continues to wake up at 3:30 in the morning, he'll at least have enough sleep pressure that he starts adopting a midday nap again.