Published on 12, July, 2020
Can anyone help me ? I have a 4 year old daughter who has not been diagnosed yet and currently going through process for a referral. I have quite a lot of bad nights with her sleeping. She normally wakes up once twice through the night for 2-4 hours and it takes along time to get her of to sleep she tells me she’s scared, she sleeps with me in the end. I’m just wondering if anyone else has this problem if so what are your ideas/thoughts? I have been told my her senco at school this is affecting her in school and it needs to be sorted. Iv tried leaving nights on and doesn’t make a difference Iv tried giving her a weighted blanket. She does have a rigid routine before bed as it unsettles her if it’s not done.
Dear NAS63066,
So sorry to hear that you are having difficulties with your daughter's sleep pattern.
You may find the information on our sleep and autism page of the website useful - you can access it here: https://www.autism.org.uk/about/health/sleep.aspx
Also there is information on our website about sensory issues with suggestions for how to deal with them - that page is here: https://www.autism.org.uk/about/behaviour/sensory-world.aspx
If you would like to speak to someone, you could contact our Autism Helpline team who can provide you with information and advice . You can contact the team via telephone on 0808 800 4104 (Monday to Thursday 10am to 4pm, Friday 9am to 3pm). The Helpline is often very busy and it may take a couple of attempts before you get through to speak to an advisor. Alternatively, should you prefer to send a message, you can do so via their webform:
https://www.autism.org.uk/services/helplines/main/questions.aspx
There are also lots of other posts on the forum discussing sleep issues which you can find by doing a search using a term such as 'sleep issues'.
I hope you manage to find something that helps.
Regards,
Kerri-Mod