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Sleep and Anxiety in 10 year old son

NAS88814

Hi,

This is my first post and I'm really struggling.

Our son was diagnosed nearly a year ago. He is 10, nearly 11, and has always suffered with anxiety. In the last 6 months he has struggled to get to sleep on a daily basis and wakes repeatedly in the night and then struggles to get back to sleep. 

The GP has been wonderful. We are on the waiting list for counselling and we started melatonin last week. It's not working, yet anyway.

For the last 6 months I have been going to bed at 8pm and sitting with him whilst he falls asleep because his anxiety causes him such discomfort if I am not there. My husband and I don't get to spend any time together and my younger daughter feels hugely left out and that I am not spending any time with her. 

He is very unhappy and wants his old life back and I desperately want to help him, but I just don't know what else to do. I bought a weighted blanket which he refused to try last night because of the heat.

Has anyone had any experience of this? I am feeling so low and so helpless. He is tired, and I am tired. 

Lauren

Parents

  • Can your son function with the amount of sleep he is getting, i.e. can he wake up and function?  I have ASC and ADHD and only slept for three or four hours/night until I was ten or so. It may be he does not need to sleep. You do.  What my parents did was to say that I had to be in my room and quiet, but I could read, listen to the radio, watch tv, play with my Lego ... whatever.

    Try a routine that involves some quiet time, maybe a drink and a snack, then he has to be in his room and quiet. Preferably in bed. He will fall asleep when he is tired. Is he a restless sleeper? I used to "burrow" in the bedclothes and even turn completely upside down in my sleep.

Reply

  • Can your son function with the amount of sleep he is getting, i.e. can he wake up and function?  I have ASC and ADHD and only slept for three or four hours/night until I was ten or so. It may be he does not need to sleep. You do.  What my parents did was to say that I had to be in my room and quiet, but I could read, listen to the radio, watch tv, play with my Lego ... whatever.

    Try a routine that involves some quiet time, maybe a drink and a snack, then he has to be in his room and quiet. Preferably in bed. He will fall asleep when he is tired. Is he a restless sleeper? I used to "burrow" in the bedclothes and even turn completely upside down in my sleep.

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