Bedtime and Sleeping

Hi there, my 7 year old son has trouble going to sleep and can lay awake for 4 hours +. We have tried lots of things over the years and have found the best things which work for him are ear defenders and a weighted blanket. The ear defenders he has used for several years and tend to be a last resort when he has been awak for several hours. The weighted blanket we have only had for a month, and it has made such a difference with him going to sleep normally now averaging less than an hour and sleeping through the night. Was quite expensive but worth every penny

Both my Autistic daughters take melatonin because they just couldn't get to sleep it doesn't keep them asleep it just helps to get them to sleep but only works with a very rigid bed routine we also use white noise machines we bought off amazon as both my girls cannot sleep in a quiet room  my older daughter also uses audio books if she wants a change from white noise x

Hi JoJoBear,

There is a section here on the NAS site that you might find helpful - https://www.autism.org.uk/about/health/sleep.aspx - with suggestions for dealing with sleep difficulties, like keeping a sleep diary, having a regular routine, how diet might affect sleep, and various other information on the subject.

Hope you find something helpful here,

Best wishes,

Ross

I find ambient noise helps me sleep; soothing music or rain sounds. 

There are lots of videos to that effect on youtube. Could he try those?

Audiobooks are really good at getting me to sleep too, if he has any that he likes.