Sleep!

Hello 

When my daughter was young she would have a story tape/CD. She would listen to exactly the same one every single night, fall asleep and the tape/CD would run until the end. It took a while to find the right one. She had the most dreadful, banal short stories for a couple of years and then moved onto The Little Princess. Sometimes when we tried to move onto a new one she would immediately say no, it wasn't right. She needed the right type of story but in retrospect I think the right tone of voice. She was always OK about going to sleep alone if we got the environment right. This included her muslin comfort cloth, heavy duvet and blanket, window closed and night light. Aged 17 she still needs all these things in place but the necessity of a story tape/CD has stopped. She does like a long time to actually get to bed, about two hours including shower and hair washing. Before this ritual starts she also likes to watch something on the TV that she has seen a million times before, something reassuring and comforting. However when she got to about your son's age she suddenly started wanting me to sit with her until she actually fell asleep, having never needed this level of bedtime attention before. This could take a couple of hours. I couldn't bear sitting in semi-darkness listening to the dreadful story tape/CD and losing around 14 hours of my life every week but needs must. In the end I would sit behind her so that she couldn't see me and do work, study or shopping on my laptop. This went on for over a year and we were then able to move on. We also used aromatherapy oils in her bath and aromatherapy spray on her pillow when she got a little older but they didn't seem to aid her. I must add that I didn't know that my daughter was autistic at this point. She was only diagnosed when she was 17. 

Now that she is much older she takes Nytol or Kalms herbal sleeping pills on the nights before college when she is most anxious.

Honey milk (warm milk with honey in it) helps her when things are really bad. 

I am considering a weighted blanket for her as she does like heavy bedding even when it is hot.

Good luck. I really feel for you. Other parents would say that they just fell asleep with their child but I have never done that, not even when she was a baby and I was exhausted. 

Hello 

When my daughter was young she would have a story tape/CD. She would listen to exactly the same one every single night, fall asleep and the tape/CD would run until the end. It took a while to find the right one. She had the most dreadful, banal short stories for a couple of years and then moved onto The Little Princess. Sometimes when we tried to move onto a new one she would immediately say no, it wasn't right. She needed the right type of story but in retrospect I think the right tone of voice. She was always OK about going to sleep alone if we got the environment right. This included her muslin comfort cloth, heavy duvet and blanket, window closed and night light. Aged 17 she still needs all these things in place but the necessity of a story tape/CD has stopped. She does like a long time to actually get to bed, about two hours including shower and hair washing. Before this ritual starts she also likes to watch something on the TV that she has seen a million times before, something reassuring and comforting. However when she got to about your son's age she suddenly started wanting me to sit with her until she actually fell asleep, having never needed this level of bedtime attention before. This could take a couple of hours. I couldn't bear sitting in semi-darkness listening to the dreadful story tape/CD and losing around 14 hours of my life every week but needs must. In the end I would sit behind her so that she couldn't see me and do work, study or shopping on my laptop. This went on for over a year and we were then able to move on. We also used aromatherapy oils in her bath and aromatherapy spray on her pillow when she got a little older but they didn't seem to aid her. I must add that I didn't know that my daughter was autistic at this point. She was only diagnosed when she was 17. 

Now that she is much older she takes Nytol or Kalms herbal sleeping pills on the nights before college when she is most anxious.

Honey milk (warm milk with honey in it) helps her when things are really bad. 

I am considering a weighted blanket for her as she does like heavy bedding even when it is hot.

Good luck. I really feel for you. Other parents would say that they just fell asleep with their child but I have never done that, not even when she was a baby and I was exhausted.