What do you do about sleep issues?

Turns out he has insomnia. He has slept one full night in the past 6. I am hopeful tonite will be another full night of sleep. Can't send him to school until he sleeps so he is out until after Christmas. Hopefully, during that time his cycle will get back into order. Doc says to keep him up if at all possible during the day -- yeah that is fun. He is so mean and aggressive if he doesn't get sleep. Still going to try the tent thing once this is done so don't have the same issues again. thanks for the idea

My son just turned 5 and I have learned to not sleep at all lol he is autistic and we dont medicate him at all. Some nights are good nights he goes to bed about 10ish and has to get up at 7 am to get ready for school other times i cant get him to bed till about 1 sometimes he sleeps early at 9 but then wakes up at 4 in the morning and wont go back to sleep. Even if he is tired I make him get up and go to school cause in my opinion if he keeps his reg routine he will eventually slide into a reg sleep routine. I have noticed with autistic kids there are good days and there are days that you want to crawl in a corner and hide. But thats life right :) and us moms just have to "deal". There are some nights I feel like I am in a scary movie I wake up and he is sitting on my bed staring at me. When I look at him he gives me a hug and lays down next to me. I have just come to the realization that my life is gonna be intresting with him :) and I wouldnt have it any other way :)

Thanks for the post Searching.... if I thought for a minute that the school would support this plan and him I would send him to school. But they don't want him there and are trying to propose a placement change so he would be in a program with almost all teenagers and he is 7. The school will just keep suspending him and that doesn't help either because at that point he is so worn out from the school issues all he does is sleep. He is still up in the am and does school work that they send home. I am working with the local parent advocacy group to get his school stuff in order for after the holidays. I hope that your son has a great school and that they are working with you. That is on my wish list this year.

This is something we've dealt with.J gets a cup of coffee about 7:30 PM with his evening meds and then he has to go RIGHT TO SLEEP - like no later than 8. It's really kind of a trick, because if he stays up much later, he's past the window and will be up all night.Some nights, its just like that - but he knows he does better when he sleeps, so he's pretty good now (at age 15) at going to bed when he needs to.Might give coffee a try during the day, to see how he reacts. Not all kids react the same. Jer reacts different to different things - like allergy meds make him rowdy and full of energy (same with PM like meds) - where as things like Coffee or even a Red Bull (which I don't suggest) make him more sleepy.

Brandy has a good point. There is very much a window with sleep meds. I have insomnia and if I am not lying in bed not doing anything within a half hour after taking my meds they will not work and I will be up all night.

Thanks for the info Brandy and Nevada Jen. I never thought of that with the window for meds. With my oldest I can't give them until right before because they knock him out. With my 7 year old it used to do that do but now it seems like they don't touch him. I will try giving them right when he goes to bed to see if he sleeps better.

Scandi, When did a four year old girl join your clan?!?!?!

Athikers, she came mid June from TX. We finalize on Weds the 30th!!

Wooo HOoooooo!!!!Congratulations :)

When Litle Guy first came sleep was any issue. Whew he was a little bear! I started by sleeping on the bed with him (me on top of the covers, in full day dress at the bottom of the bed). At the time, he would reach out and check to be sure he wasn't alone at night...he needed the reassurance. Each time he got out of bed, I put him back and said, "It's night-night time." Kiss him, and tell him we love him. Gradually he started to set, and I started to leave the room. At which point he'd try to wander the house. I repeated the process adding that "you stay in your room until (an adult) comes to get you." That part took 3 days to learn. We also found that the room has to be COMPLETELY dark. The only light in his room is from the glow in the dark stars--he has black out curtains. At that stage he would just lay awake part of the night, sometimes even singing to the stars in his room---which was fine. Now, most nights he sleeps....in fact on Halloween when most kids where throwing tantrums for more candy, Little Guy threw a tantrum to go to bed! Medicating isn't and can't be an option (due to other medications.) The consistency has been the key for him in that area. I also think having a "plain" room while he was learning to go to sleep helped. Of cource, I don't think his sleep issues were autism so much as living in chaos. Of course, we're still coming to agreement on the bouncing on the bed problem!

sleep issues are so common with autism...by accident we found a heavy quilt helps him sleep. A full night sleep makes so much difference for me and my energy level...I can at least keep up now for most of the day.

Our daughter was just diagnosed with Aspergers. She has always had a hard time falling asleep, and I believe she wakes up at night. She used to get up and wake up her twin sister in the middle of the night to ask her bizarre questions. We finally got her in her own room and with the help of a door alarm convinced her to stay in her room - but I'm not really sure if she stays asleep all night. I doubt it. I didn't realize that these problems could be due to the Aspergers. Since that discovery I have added a heavy blanket to her bed (to add weight) and I got her some very soft sheets (she used to always put things on top of her sheets to sleep on, I didn't realize she felt like the sheets were scratchy), and I dried the sheets with some lavender oil (supposed to aid in calming). We'll see if it helps. I was wondering if any of you have tried music to help the kids get to sleep? Soothing music? Or has anyone tried the cd's made by John Ortiz? They're supposed to be calibrated with the bodies natural pulses, and then they slow down to help the body naturally settle and fall asleep. I thought maybe it would help her mind to have something else to focus on instead of spinning with thoughts.

My friend's daughter just started seeing a holistic doctor. Within a week her sleeping has improved. From my understanding its been a combination of diet and homeopathic (sp) medicine.

fostapeepz - I use CD's for my boys. There are a few they rotate thru but their favorite is a Norwegian singer named Sissel. It is her christmas CD. Her voice in very melodic and since she is singing in Norwegian they can't sing along. IT puts them out quickly. Apparently my middle son (child in question on this thread) is also bipolar. Working on good med combo and he is now on the downward side and is starting to sleep again.

I downloaded some Liquid Mind tracks from Amazon, and put them on an mp3 player on repeat (it's hooked in to speakers, not earbuds). I sneak in before I go to bed and shut them off. She said she likes the music. We'll see if it makes a difference when she goes back to school next week!