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Advice please

Emily

Hello, my daughter was diagnosed with autism in January. I have a real trouble getting her to settle to sleep at night, she gets very frustrated that she's now broken her cot by jumping to much. She is almost 3 and I dont know whether to buy her a new cotbed or dive straight in and buy her a bed? She has little communication and I cant reason or talk to her. I'm not sure whether trying to get her into a bed is the right thing or not but I don't want to risk buying a new cot for her to then break it again. 

I was also thinking of changing her mattress from a foam one to a spring one, does anybody know whether it will make a difference to her sleep? Or a difference in general? 

Thankyou :) Any suggestions welcome!! 

  • yap said:
    it is good for them to have the same routine and they need to know bedtime is bedtime.

    Who says so?

    In my opinion, as someone with Asperger's, routine is important to us not in and of itself, but because it is the lack of change, and we dislike change.

    It can take a very long time, they will improve as time goes on with very small steps, but we will get there in the end.

    Again, who says so?

    When I was growing up I was sent to bed at a regular time every night, but I often didn't go to sleep until I was ready to go to sleep, I still do, and I'm now 39.

    Non-diurnal sleep-cycles are very common amongst people on the spectrum, and I believe it is simply our nature to be that way, and if you try to fight it you will be fighting a losing battle. This may well be for good evolutionary reasons - someone, in our hunter gatherer pasts, would have had to stand watch and guard the group at night - and who better than someone who is naturally awake at that time and who has hightened senses and an attention to detail?

  • hi, my son is 5 has asd has no speech. he struggles with sleeping. He had a bed but broke it, he now only has a mattress on the floor, doesnt look nice but his safety comes first. we have struggled since he was 2. We had to remove all furniture from his bedroom as he has broke it all. The best advise i can give is to make your daughters bedroom safe, put her to bed at the sametime every night making sure she cant get out of her room. It is very hard but routine is the key to help children with asd. When i first started this my son was very angry frustrated and cried alot, i hated every monemt of it but stuck it out. Now he accepts going to his room at 7pm most nights. He still doesnt sleep well, like tonight he fell asleep at 10:30pm, took him 3and half hours but he stayed ib his room for this time, but he will probably wake in the middle of the night. As long as they are safe in their room it is good for them to have the same routine and they need to know bedtime is bedtime. It can take a very long time, they will improve as time goes on with very small steps, but we will get there in the end. If you do bye a bed i suggest a divan, as my son broke all the slats on his wooden bed. You can get natural sleeping medicine (meletonin), but only from a peadiatricean. I refused it to when he was 3 because i thought he was too young and was hoping by the time he started school he would be better. but that didnt happen. i started using it 3 months ago, it hasnt made any difference for me but i know for otherchildren it has worked.

    #good luck, wish you all the best!

  • Hi Emily,

    Hopefully someone else can post their experiences of settling their child to sleep at night. In the meantime there is some information on the NAS website with ideas about how to deal with sleep problems:

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

    There are suppliers of tough furniture, including beds. If you are interested you could look at Tough Furniture:

    http://www.toughfurniture.com/furniture/beds

    and also Kinderkey:

    http://www.kinderkey.co.uk/

    I hope some of this helps.