Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi,
My godson is 5 years old, preverbal, deaf and is autistic. He is not yet potty trained so he is still in nappies. He has a safe space bed, which has helped keep him safe through the night and he gets put in a onesie to go to sleep (we have tried him with pyjamas but he pulls them off through the night and takes his nappy off). He has now began, at bedtime, to take his onesie off, wee, smear and even vomit. Now, i work in a SEN school and my instincts are telling me that he’s doing this because he knows his mam will take him out of bed and put him in the bath to clean him up, because ovbiously she can’t leave him in his own excrement.
I just need some advice, as we don’t know where to go from here. He just doesn’t seem to want to have pyjamas on for bed, however, not putting him in them results in him smearing etc. then again, putting him in them also results in this. This leads to his mam getting up most the night, changing him etc. She is now scared to leave him alone incase he makes himself vomit through the night. He has been tried on Melatonin but that only seems to get him to sleep and after a hour or so he’s back awake and bouncing off the walls. She is unable to use dummies due to the fact he will put the whole dummy in his mouth and nearly choke.
Does anybody have any advice on what we can do to try and help his bedtime routine. He doesn’t use PECs or anything yet so we can’t even use social stories etc as at the moment he isn’t at that stage.
Thanks
Lauren said:He has been tried on Melatonin but that only seems to get him to sleep and after a hour or so he’s back awake and bouncing off the walls.
I suspect medication is the only way to get him to sleep through the night as he seems to be thriving on the attention his actions are getting.
I would speak to your GP, explain the lack of effect of Melatonin and see what else they can prescribe.
Hopefully using this to build a new pattern will build up a routine that you can use and wean him off it while checking he is not reverting to his old habits.
Maybe give him a prize if he keeps his PJs on all night - something of modest value to him so you can repeat it while he builds up the new bahaviour. Something like a breakfast with some extras he loves and build the connection to him completing the task if you can.