11 Year Old Boy Who Sleeps Too Much

Take him to the doctor. If he has apnea, he's not getting enough oxygen while he sleeps and it won't matter if he sleeps a lot. He could have a thyroid condition. He could be depressed. He's also hit puberty and his body and brain are working double time.

Two things: Length of sleep doesn't always equal quality of sleep, so a sleep study may help and two, teens and other growing kids sleep a lot. Teens can take a nap, go to bed at 11PM and sleep the clock around the next day. I guess you'll have to find out from the doc if he's got something else going on or if he's just a bored kid in school/shopping and sleeps when he's bored.

I'm sorry, but is this a real question?
Normal sleep range for that age is 9-12 hours.
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/guide/sleep-children

Eta - we get a lot of trolls here. So since this is a genuine question, he sounds genuinely normal to me, the mom of a 12 year old.

Stop watching tv and get off all electronic games - no screen time. It's definitely affecting him big time. Do some research on how it affects the brain.

Boys in their pre-teens often start needing more sleep and this goes on into their teens. Is he physically working hard enough?

Also, it's not unusual for kids to need at least 10 to 12 hours sleep. And is he sleeping deeply enough, is he getting quality sleep?

There are herbal teas he could drink before bed for better sleep. Also a good tea for morning is chicory and cacao to help him. Not only are they full of nutrients and antioxidants but also will perk him up. This is a good mixture tea and it's a smooth energizer. If you decide to try teas, get the bulk kind and brew it with a tea basket, you get more for your money and it's better quality. Some of the tea bag brands aren't worth anything. You can also get certain herbs in capsules or make your own.

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Stop watching tv and get off all electronic games - no screen time. It's definitely affecting him big time. Do some research on how it affects the brain.

Boys in their pre-teens often start needing more sleep and this goes on into their teens. Is he physically working hard enough?

Also, it's not unusual for kids to need at least 10 to 12 hours sleep. And is he sleeping deeply enough, is he getting quality sleep?

There are herbal teas he could drink before bed for better sleep. Also a good tea for morning is chicory and cacao to help him. Not only are they full of nutrients and antioxidants but also will perk him up. This is a good mixture tea and it's a smooth energizer. If you decide to try teas, get the bulk kind and brew it with a tea basket, you get more for your money and it's better quality. Some of the tea bag brands aren't worth anything. You can also get certain herbs in capsules or make your own.

The recommendations for his age are 10-11 hours a day. He is just tired.

My 11 year old needs 11 hours of sleep. She's very active, and she gets cranky if she gets any less sleep than that. Can your son go to bed earlier, so he can get a few more hours of sleep per night? It might take several weeks for him to catch up from this sleep deficit, as well, once he starts getting enough sleep.

Clearly 9 hours is not a sufficient amount of sleep for him. Try moving his bed time back. My girls sleep 11 hours straight through on the weekend. My oldest often takes naps after school.

I do think it is a little concerning though the way he falls asleep in school. I would check with his doctor.

We've been told repeatedly by our children's pediatricians that kids from around 10-20 need up to 14 hours of sleep. At that age I needed 12 to be alert - and only went down to needing 10 at 24 years, then down to 9 at about 30. Of course screens stimulate the brain horribly so they keep him awake. I USE a screen to wake me up since I'm allergic to coffee (answering email) and use it to keep myself awake until my teenager finally turns his light off and fall asleep - otherwise I'd be out by 8. needing 9 hours of sleep is not unusual. At that age I was allowed about 8 and daily slept through my last three periods of the day. Thank goodness for study hall.

Cut out the screens - it takes about 6 weeks for them to stop having a long term stimulation effect on the body and he will sleep better. He'll go to sleep earlier. Have him take Melatonin 30 minutes before bedtime if he doesn't feel sleepy. And for heaven's sake - let the kid sleep! He'll be in such a better mood! Our teenager is best when he falls asleep about 8.....and still only gets 11 hours of his needed 14. but the difference in his mood bw 9, 10, and 11 hours is incredible.

Growing kids need more than 'almost 9 hours of sleep'.
He's sleep deprived.
My son zonked out a LOT when ever he was having a major growth spurt.
You help him by getting him to bed earlier so he gets closer to 11 to 14 hours of sleep.
Hard to during during the week but try your best and let him sleep all he wants on holidays and weekends.
This means no screen time 2 hrs before bedtime so he's only going to have time for that in the narrow range of after school once his chores and school work is finished until maybe supper time and then he can read before bedtime.
Our son is 15 1/2 and he has no trouble sleeping > 12 hrs on a weekend.

My boys are 8 and 11 and they both get 10 hours a night. If they get less than 10 then they are tired the next day. Does he wake up on his own in the morning, or do you have to wake him up? Maybe you could try an earlier bedtime? Also, try to keep him from having those naps. If he is dosing in the car etc, then it is probably affecting his ability to fall asleep at night.

This could be a couple of things:

1. It COULD be a real medical issue. There are several conditions -- a few of them serious -- that cause excessive drowsiness in kids. Not all that common or likely, but it doesn't hurt to follow up with a doctor, just in case. Especially if this is new -- if he's had this many hours of sleep for a while, but just started getting dozey -- it's really worth putting in a call.

2. Or, alternatively, this could just be a kid who's getting too much game, gadget, and TV time. Electronics provide much, much more neural stimulation than school, or most things in life. So, kids who get even a moderate amount of screen time often react by tuning everything else out. Usually this takes the form of acting bored or misbehaving, but in an extreme case it could involve conking out.

3. Or, middle ground, some people just need more sleep than others. And hormonal shifts -- aka the beginning of puberty -- can trigger a need for additional sleep.

Really, the good news is that you can pursue all these possibilities at once. Make an appointment with the doc, and limit (really, really limit) his screen time. No matter what the underyling cause is, he'll benefit from both.

Pediatric sleep specialist for a sleep study. We took our toddler and many of the things you mention were on the questionnaire we had to complete to see the doctor.

If putting him to sleep earlier doesn't help than speak to the doctor. He might need a sleep test. Does he snore?

I agree with the others--it sounds like he's just not getting enough sleep. He can stay awake for screen time because it's stimulating and actually causes physiological changes in the brain. It could also be a growth spurt. I went through something similar with my 14-year-old during the winter and the doctor measured him and he had grown several inches. My 14-year-old sleeps about 9-10 hours on school nights and more on weekend nights unless he has some sort of special event to stay awake for.

He is a growing boy, so this not totally unusual especially if he is going through a growing spurt. Does he take a good mulit vitamin? Is he an active kid, ride his bike play sports? If not, he needs to have less screen time and more active activities every day.

But if this is very different from last year, I would take him to the doctor to have a blood test done just in case.

I was always super active and my mom used to call me "Sleeping Beauty", because I could sleep for hours during the day as well as good long nights sleep.

Sounds like one of those kids who need more sleep. I'd think it wasn't a big deal. If you get him up extremely early so you can go to work this might be what is making him so tired.

Either he's getting up extremely early or he's staying up extremely late.

My kids go to bed around 9pm and get up at 7am. That's 10 hours. The 10 year old sometimes comes home from school and crashes for hours then is fine for months.

Kids have stressful days just like we do. Sometimes their bodies are fighting off illness. When we're awake our brain is busy thinking, working, managing eating, talking on the phone, using office equipment, etc....our brains are super busy when we're awake. When we sleep our brains and body repair hurt things in our bodies like injuries, our brain can work on problems in our subconscious and this is why we dream about our problems and get the inspiration on what to do. When asleep our bodies fight all sorts of illnesses too.

So when we're hurt or fighting off the new bug that everyone else is exposing us to we sleep more or have less energy because our bodies need to sleep so it can fight and do it's job.

If he can't get to bed before 10pm or 11pm then perhaps it's time to examine your schedule. I do think all elementary aged kids can stay up until 9pm because they are old enough to not need to go to bed at 8 or earlier.

IF you're getting him up extremely early, like 6am or earlier then you might want to find someone to come in and watch him so you can go to work and let him sleep another hour or two.

obviously your child is not getting enough sleep.
I believe 10-11 hours is what is recommended for children that age.
Put him to bed earlier.
Seems like an easy solution.
L.

My entire time of being a student I slept in class. I was usually bored not tired just bored to pieces. The most frustrating thing for the teachers was asking questions in class and then picking me to answer. I got the answers right everytime even though my head was down from the beginning of the class to the end. If his grades are above a B then it may just be he is bored. He also is at an age where growth spurs happen. My son would always eat alot, then sleep alot, then grow. He still has the same pattern from when he was a baby and he's 19 and still growning.

Take him to the docs to get a full work up to rule out any medical problems.

It might be as simple as needing an earlier bedtime. My kids are a bit older than yours, but they get closer to 10 hours than 9. People are different though, and not all kids need the same amount of sleep.

Now that said, my son's friend seemed to be impossible to wake in the morning, groggy at school, etc. Long story short, his mom took him in for a sleep study. They found that he had sleep apnea so even when he was asleep he wasn't getting much real rest. 9 hours in bed was more like 1-2 hours of actual solid sleep. His tonsils were large which isn't always a problem, but in this case it was contributing. Removing them helped a lot.

I am so humbled by the informative responses which I received from all of you, I will take heed of them, like asking him to sleep around 9 p.m. and involving him in physical exercises like riding his bike. I noticed that he is actually growing tall rapidly and is putting in more weight as he has been a very slim boy. I will still see a physician to rule out any health issue. Screen time will be reduced for the boy. I am grateful to all of you.