Starting kinder or school, and sleep

This guide is general information only and isn't a substitute for medical advice. If you're concerned about your child's health, or they're unwell, please see a doctor.

Big school is a big deal. Longer days, more stimulation, new social demands, and an earlier alarm than your child has ever had to meet. Sleep usually takes a hit in the first term, and the fix is almost always bedtime, not bedtime behaviour.

How much sleep they need

Raising Children puts children aged 5 to 11 at about 9 to 11 hours of sleep a night. That figure does the work for you: if your child needs to be up at 7am and needs about 10 hours, they need to be asleep before 9pm, which usually means starting bedtime well before that.

Preschoolers aged 3 to 5, Raising Children says, need about 10 to 13 hours a night, so a child starting kinder who has recently dropped their nap often needs an earlier bedtime than they had as a napping toddler, not a later one.

The first-term slump

Expect exhaustion. New starters are often flat, tearful and short-fused by mid-afternoon for the first few weeks, and that tiredness can show up as difficulty falling asleep rather than as easy sleep. Overtired children fight bed.

Move bedtime earlier for the first term rather than waiting to see if they adjust. It is the highest-value change available and it costs nothing.

Watch for the delayed collapse. Many children hold it together all day and fall apart the moment they get in the car, which is not bad behaviour but the end of a very long effort. Meet it with food, quiet and low expectations rather than with consequences.

Protect the wind-down

• Keep a consistent bedtime routine, even though they're older. Predictability still works at five.
• Screens off well before bed, and out of the bedroom.
• Make time to talk. New social worries surface at lights out, and a chance to unload earlier in the evening helps.
• Get outside after school. Daylight and movement help set the body clock.

When it's more than adjustment

See your GP if your child snores most nights, gasps or struggles for breath during sleep, or is very sleepy during the day despite adequate time in bed. Persistent trouble falling asleep tied to anxiety, or ongoing distress about school, is also worth raising with your GP or the school.

Keep an eye on the mornings, too. A child who is getting enough sleep is usually wakeable without a fight. If you are having to drag your child out of bed every single morning, bedtime is probably too late, whatever they tell you about not being tired.

Sources

• Raising Children Network, How much sleep kids need, 5 to 11 years
• Raising Children Network, Preschooler sleep
• Raising Children Network, Snoring in babies, kids and teens

Last updated: July 2026. Sources include Red Nose Australia and Raising Children Network where cited above. This guide is general information only. For individual concerns, see your GP or child health nurse.