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Single working mother with 4 year old son with autism who won't sleep help!

sarah south shields

Hi I'm new to this site my son who is 4 and a half was diagnosed with autism last year, he is high functioning and clever as well as having social problems and major obsessions etc. I'm looking for some advice with regards to him sleeping on a night time, he takes about 2 and a half hours to get to sleep and i have to put him to bed at about 6pm for him to get to sleep at around8:30/9. I have tried everything, he no longer has a tv in his room, I've tried putting him to bed later but this just means he goes to sleep later. He constantly gets out of bed he can't sit still or more than 2 minutes and its a fight to get him to sleep pretty much every night. I don't know what to do ive read up about melatonin would this help? I didn't want to go down the medication route but I feel desperate at the moment! Any help would be much appreciated thankyou x

Parents

  • Hi - does he sleep thru once he gets to sleep?  I can't advise about melatonin, but there will be posts on here about it.  I presume he has a settled bedtime routine.  Maybe his mind is overactive?  Does he get much exercise to tire him out?  My son went thru periods where he couldn't settle and/or woke up during the night.  Then we had periods when his sleeping was fine, regardless of whether there was a tv in his room or not.  Is he content in his bedroom?  Sorry for all the questions but it cd be any number of things that keep him awake.  My son can't sleep if it's windy outside or if he hasn't wound down after being on his computer.  He can be distracted by noise or something might be bothering him.   Has bedtime become ritualised to the point where he needs all this time to complete rituals before he can settle?  Wow, I'm probably making you feel worse rather than better.  I don't mean to but I do understand how frustrating + difficult it is to bottom out.

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  • Hi - does he sleep thru once he gets to sleep?  I can't advise about melatonin, but there will be posts on here about it.  I presume he has a settled bedtime routine.  Maybe his mind is overactive?  Does he get much exercise to tire him out?  My son went thru periods where he couldn't settle and/or woke up during the night.  Then we had periods when his sleeping was fine, regardless of whether there was a tv in his room or not.  Is he content in his bedroom?  Sorry for all the questions but it cd be any number of things that keep him awake.  My son can't sleep if it's windy outside or if he hasn't wound down after being on his computer.  He can be distracted by noise or something might be bothering him.   Has bedtime become ritualised to the point where he needs all this time to complete rituals before he can settle?  Wow, I'm probably making you feel worse rather than better.  I don't mean to but I do understand how frustrating + difficult it is to bottom out.

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