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problematic nights

momnson

hello i'm new to this site. my son who is 3 has recently been diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder. he has very limited speech uses maybe 20 words so communication with him is very difficult. he has recently started waking at night very distressed. he starts out crying which then goes to whimpering then calm. this can be repeted for several hours. i have no idea what is wrong with him and was just wondering if anyone else has experienced anything similar or has any advice on how to manage this behaviour.  all suggestions very much appreciated Smile 

  • hi loulabell i don't think there's anything in his room thats upsetting him but then i'm never 100% sure to be honest. the teddy sounds like a good idea where did u get one from?? it's reasurring to know that most of the people on here have said that their little ones have grown out of it so hopefully at some point we'll all get a decent nights sleep :) i do leave him to cry too as sometimes he's crying in his sleep and settles back off but there's a difference in the cries so like u i wouldn't leave him if he was very upset thanks for the advice Smile xx

  • hello yes my son has his blanket it's more like a ball of ragged wool to be fair it goes everywhere with him. he wouldn't settle without it. i have tried leaving my cardigan that i've been wearing on the evening in bed with him but he tends to just throw it out :(

  • momnson said:

    hiya, my son just cries and wont settle. he doesnt try to get out of bed or anything like that he just wants comfort one minute then pushes me away the next, 

    Does he sleep with anything (such as a blanket) with your scent on it?

  • Oh this takes me back...

    When my son was aged 2 - 3 he used to have night terrors. Some were bad, some okay. I can understand what you mean about feeling like a yoyo. 

    I know it sounds silly but have you added anything to the bedroom of late? When Jake was about 3 he got a new wardrobe, it was a blue one. He HATED it, Hes never been a great sleeper but when we got the wardrobe it all went down hill, he would wake in the night screaming. In the end out of sheer fustration i moved him to the box bedroom with just his bed and night light. The night terrors stoped for a bit!

    Another is shaky legs..he used to wake with pins and needles in his legs, he didnt like the feeling so used to wake and sob for sometime. 

    I found that a sound activated music playing teddy worked well to help him self sooth. I used to let him cry (horrid i know) for a few minutes, the teddy would start to sing and he would calm a little...over a few weeks he learnt to sooth himself back to sleep without me having to go in and sit with him for hours. He would wake and be back asleep within 10 minutes. Let me point out this was if he woke up whimpering not screaming! I wouldnt let him scream.

    Hope it you soon find a solution so your little one can get a good nights rest 

    Take Care x

  • Hi. Just to say our daughter 5.7 years did (and occasionally still) this. It's a killer at the time but we have found over time she has reduced the times she wakes up replacing it with taking a long time to get to sleep as she mulls over the days and future days events. She then usually sleeps the night waking early.

  • hi momnson yes it can be exhausting she doesnt do it every night about twice a week sometimes 3 but she is getting worse as each day goes by we get so tired some days were both exhausted but we just help each other me and my hubby the best we can xxx

  • hiya, my son just cries and wont settle. he doesnt try to get out of bed or anything like that he just wants comfort one minute then pushes me away the next, makes me feel a bit like a yoyo. gosh that must be really exausting for u. is it every night your daughter wakes like that?? he doesn't do it every night but it tends to occur a couple of times a week. xx

  • hi i,m new to this site aswell my daughter is 2 well just over 2 and she has some nights were she will wake up and she wont go back to sleep she thinks its time to get up and i have to bring her downstairs and she stays awake its so hard sometimes because i get so tired and she,s wide awake when she should be asleep xx

  • Hi Momnson, 

    Problems with sleeping or night time disturbance does seem to be something we get asked about a lot, so hopefully there might be lots of people with advice on how they themselves, or their child, resolved some of the issues they faced. 

    In the meantime, just to add to the other replies, we do have an article that looks at a variety of issues around sleep and possible ways to approach the problem. I hope it's some help, do let us know if it is :)

    http://www.autism.org.uk/living-with-autism/understanding-behaviour/sleep-and-autism-helping-your-child.aspx

  • hi thank you both for your comments i will deff try the weighted blanket Smile and mandie i was starting to think along those lines as he seems fine by morning and i wouldve thought if he was ill he would have at least appeared unwell will just have to keep experimenting thanks again xx

  • Hi

    Sounds like your son may be having nightmare or night terrors.

    My son (who is 16yrs and has aspergers) often says he finds it hard to sleep as he has very bad dreams from time to time.

    Hopefully someone will be able to give you more advise ideas soon.

  • Have you tried a weighted blanket?

    They apparently help some.