Sleep or LACK OFF..!!

Just to echo what Goldenspeed had to say,we have a 14 year old who has been diagnosed with Aspergers and a 12 year old who is going through the assessment and both have had sleep related issues....the elder ones sleeping has improved immensely but his sisters is still bad.....she has been prescribed risperidone by the psychologdoes as she used to take melatonin which had the effect of her going to sleep for a couple of hours athe then being awake for the rest of the night.

Now with the risperidone we are having the opposite problem,when she does go to sleep she will sleep through but it is taking her longer to get to sleep,sometimes it can be well after midnight.....but what we have found does help is that she takes a iPhone to bed with her which does help as it keeps her occupied as I think a big part of the problem is when she is not occupied is there are too many distractions whether they be sensory or just anxious thoughts going through her mind.

This may not be for everyone and "experts" will probably say that you really shouldn't bedoing that when you are trying to get them to sleep,but it really is trying to find something that works for you and you child

As a person on the spectrum sometimes my life ends up 24/2 sometimes. Best thing to do is buy an Ipad or any other good tablet and play with it the person in concern is in bed. The screen and its interactivity in bed really tires me out quickly in less than 20 minutes and as a result I am fully asleep within 10 minutes compared with hours without it. Tablets have lots of games and videos and can tire them out with a fun end to a day.

Sensory direct have all weighted therapy items and I must say they work wonders.   I can entirely recommend all weighted therapy items although you should check with your OT specialist and ensure the weight of child/blanket ratio is correct.  Also project linus provide wonderful quilts free of charge they are not weighted but they are very heavy.  Best of luck

thanx for the helpm dont suppose you know where you can buy them from?do you have 1?have you tried anything else to help get them to sleep.

You can make them yourself, apparently. You can buy them online.

Sleep is an issue for me. I'm usually awake a few times a night and take ages to get to sleep.

my 4 year old daughter suffers from autism,shes very active during the day but still will not sleep all night normally awake from 12ish til 4!we tried melatonin but while it got her to sleep it will not keep her asleep.i notice a couple people mentioning weighted down blankets where do you buy them from or do you make them yourself?any advice or ideas im willing to try just:(

We have had good success with a weighted blanket.

Melly

I would try changing their bedtime very gradually ie in 5/10 minute increments so they go to bed 5 or 10 minutes later every few days until they are eventually going to bed and waking up at an hour that is more family friendly.

Melly

Thanks reclusivemonkey.  We will give that a try.

Hi Mhairi,

We got some liquid melatonin which is much easier to administer. Our son even drinks it on its own; its slightly flavoured and not unpleasant at all.

Our son is 9 and has High Functioning Autism.  We can relate to sleep difficulties albeit more often about settling than getting up during the night.  Something we have not yet tried but have heard can help, if your kids like deep pressure, is weighted duvets. We are thinking of trying this so if anyone has experience of this would be great to hear your thoughts.

A hot water bottle with a fluffy, cuddly cover has helped us somewhat, along with a lava lamp, warm milk and reading torch.  We are just embarking on melatonin now but going to have to add to milk or food as he cannot swallow the v.small capsules without gagging. 

I take my hat off to you settleing 3 children.  Hopefully you will find something that works for you on here. 

Hello,

All sounds very familiar! My son is 4 years old and we have had terrible trouble getting him to stay asleep for more than six hours until we got him prescribed with melatonin. His bedtime is 8pm and has been since he was about 2 and a half as he is so active. He now usually sleeps about 10-11 hours which is fantastic but there is usually at least one day in the week where he wakes up at 2 am and that's it there is no going back to bed for him. He has very limited language so trying to reason with him just doesn't work.

When we had the melatonin prescribed, we also had something else suggested just in case that didn't work. Its called Alimemazine Tartrate and is meant for kids with eczema to help them stop scratching in the night. However we found that this has become less effective (we tried that at the weekends and the melatonin during the week) and it seemed to make him hyperactive for about an hour after having so we stopped it. Your mileage may vary.

When I can at the weekend I take him swimming which helps, he always has a good night's sleep after that. Is it possible to get your boys to engage in any physical activity which will tire them out and help them sleep?

We had a similar problem until we got our son a kaleidescope light which projects onto the ceiling and a lavalamp. Along with the relaxation disc it seems to calm him down. I think the key for us was to have a steady, consistant routine and strict rule that he doesn't get out of bed once he is there, except to go to the toilet. Now we can leave him on his own and he eventually goes to sleep. He goes to bed at 10.30 but doesn't get to sleep until 3am but at least now he stays in bed till 10am when we have to get him up for school work ( we home ed)

I can't help feeling for you having three of them to settle. I only wish I could help you.

Hi Mayhem

I'm not sure that I have any great advice but just wanted to sympathise.  My son is 6 and has Aspergers.  He has some of the same difficulties in that he goes to bed around 7-7.30pm and regularly wakes between 3-5am.  He shares a bedroom with his brother who is 4 who amazingly sleeps through his loud talking.  He used to want to go downstairs at that time or come through and start talking about aeroplanes or whatever his interest is at the time.  More recently though, we have got him a projector clock and have told him that the rules are that he can't get out of bed before 7am.  We also got him a bunk bed light that wont disturb his brother but means he can read his books if need be.  I've always felt guilty that he is awake for so long in the night without company but I think he likes it in a way, it's his undisturbed time.  I'm always aware that he is awake though.  He adheres to the new rules now very rigidly and says 'Morning' at 7.01am every day before dashing downstairs.  His waking is definately earlier and prolonged if he is stressed about something, he isnt just quietly reading then, he rants to himself.  He is only now starting to go back to sleep sometimes if he wakes 3-5am, he can sometimes nod off again until 7 (woohoo!).  I haven't requested Melatonin for him as yet.  My other son is the complete opposite, would sleep until 10am no problem if left to have a lie in lol.  Hope this is helpful in some way.  Thanks for sharing :-)