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He can't fall asleep but is soooo tired!

SarahR

Hi,

just wondering if anyone has any suggestions about how i can help my 11 year old son to fall asleep??

he goes up to bed at 7:30pm, and is still awake a couple of hours later - it can get to midnight sometimes! as you can guess he's tired the next day, irritable and can never explain what's keeping him awake. he looks pale all the time, and sometimes we have a lot of bad nights in a row and he starts to look ill.

i have told him that we are trying switching all the lights off upstairs now, as he's old enough, and that upset him and he said it made him uncomfortable. i've tried baths, warm drinks, letting him read for half an hour.....short of using a rubber mallet, i don't know what else to try!! don't want to go down the drug route really....

thanks

 

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  • LizzyJ said:

    I used to do a relaxation exercise with him, where he would lie in bed and I would ask him to think about his toes, then scrunch them up tight, hold for a few seconds and then relax. I would then ask him to repeat this with his foot and so on, working slowly up his body until he was scrunching up his forehead and then finishing with his whole body. I would then ask him to think about his breathing and I found that this was effective in encouraging him to relax. This exercise could be recorded, I suppose, for independent use.

    Hello Lizzy.  You and other community members may be interested in the free podcasts downloadable from the Mental Health Foundation.  They have one that does exactly what you have set out here, talking you through progressive body relaxation.  You can download it free here:

    http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/help-information/podcasts/wellbeing-sleep-full-works/?view=Standard

    I have used this (I am an adult with ASD) as I experience sleep problems intermittently, and I have found it very useful to help me 'switch off' and fall asleep.  I keep it on my MP3 player by my bed so if I wake in the night and can't get back to sleep I can listen to it then, too.

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  • LizzyJ said:

    I used to do a relaxation exercise with him, where he would lie in bed and I would ask him to think about his toes, then scrunch them up tight, hold for a few seconds and then relax. I would then ask him to repeat this with his foot and so on, working slowly up his body until he was scrunching up his forehead and then finishing with his whole body. I would then ask him to think about his breathing and I found that this was effective in encouraging him to relax. This exercise could be recorded, I suppose, for independent use.

    Hello Lizzy.  You and other community members may be interested in the free podcasts downloadable from the Mental Health Foundation.  They have one that does exactly what you have set out here, talking you through progressive body relaxation.  You can download it free here:

    http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/help-information/podcasts/wellbeing-sleep-full-works/?view=Standard

    I have used this (I am an adult with ASD) as I experience sleep problems intermittently, and I have found it very useful to help me 'switch off' and fall asleep.  I keep it on my MP3 player by my bed so if I wake in the night and can't get back to sleep I can listen to it then, too.

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