My son is 4 and is autistic. He has a horrible sleeping pattern. I know it is common in these kids to have sleep problems. Does anyone know what I can do to help him sleep? I work full time and go to school and I am exhausted. I feel like I still have a newborn some days. Please answer only if you are a professional or have children with this disorder. Thanks a bunch in advance for any ideas?
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Dear Exhausted Mom:
If you are able to afford a behavior analyst who can come into your home to help you with techniques seek one out. It can be anywhere between $60 to $125 dollars depending on where you live.
You can look into respite from your state provider (Mental Health-Mental Retardation or Dept of Childwelfare) to get help to pay for someone to come to help you or to pay for the behavior analyst.
Talk to your pediatrician.
Good Luck.
Well, I’m no professional or a mom, but my little sister is autistic, and sometimes she does have hard times getting to sleep. My mom gives her nutmeg tea sometimes, or milk, sometimes she stays in the room and reads to her, little things like that might help?Good luck though =)
Hi, I am a professional working with preschool aged children with autism spectrum disorder. It would definatley help to know a little more information. There are a number of things you can do:
If you suspect that it is not a behavioural issue you should probably see your GP or paediatrician who will advise you on medications that may help.
As well as this, or as a first step ensure your son is not eating too late. If he is still having a daytime sleep try to eliminate this, and keep him busy during the day eg park visits (if its appropriate) or other alternatives if he is not in kinder/creche to ensure he is tired when it’s time to go to bed. The other thing, common knowledge, a glass of milk and banana (of course only if he is happy to eat/drink these things) just before bed.
If it is a behavioural problem it might be helpful to speak to a psychologist or other professionals you have access to who will be able to provide you with strategies or behavioural techniques that may work.
Also it would be a good idea if you haven’t alreday done so, to have a daily visual schedule including the routines you complete before bed e.g. bed, bath story to prepare your son for bedtime
I am not aware of his language/cognitive abilities but a social story about bed time or visual script would be a good idea, Carol Grey has written plently of books that would be helpful.
I hope this is helpful! Good Luck
My son is 10 and autistic. From the time of his diagnosis until he was 7, we had major issues with sleep. He would fall asleep, sleep for an hour and then be up for another four. There were weeks where he slept 15 minutes a night. No matter how much he had or had not slept he was up as soon as the sun came up. It was horrible. I was a stay at home mom, but had another, older child and a husband with very limited availability.
So what did we do? The first thing was to put up black out drapes. It didn’t completely eliminate the early awakening..he seems to have an incrediably sensitive internal clock..but it helped. Next, stop any day time naps (if he is still taking them). Do not let him fall asleep in the car on the way home or crash out while you make dinner. I discovered that even a 15 minute power nap was enough to recharge him completely. Be sure to have a set bedtime schedule and follow it, every night, without fail.
So what to do if that doesn’t work? Well some of that will depend on your son. I was fortunate enough that I could set up a video for him to watch, give him a drink and then doze on the couch when he was awake for half the night. If he did nap despite my best efforts, I would lay down and sleep with him…grabbing sleep whenever you can (even in the break room on your lunch break) will help. When the pattern had lasted for a longer period of time, ask a friend or family member to come hang out with your son while you spend an afternoon sleeping. I even hired a sitter a few times to stay up with him at night when I knew there was something I had to be rested for the next day. If all else fails, there are some medications that have been used with success with autistic children. Talk to your pediatrican about them, being sure to find out any possible side effects.
I was fortunate that my son eventually out grew his sleep issues. It was like all of a sudden, he began sleeping the night. In the beginning, he stayed up till 11:00 and would sleep til 5:00am..not a full 8 hours but better than anything we’d seen before. Now, on school nights he is in bed at 9:00pm and up at 7:15am and it is wonderful. Here’s wishing you a good night’s rest sometime soon!
I am personaly autistic. I have never have had a sleeping problem but I do know that autistic kids have daily routines that MUST NOT be broken because if it is they will go nuts. The best way is sleeping meds. Or try to break him out of the pattern a little at a time or sad to say you must force them to sleep, I myself had to be forced to do stuff. But if I wasn’t I wouldn’t be high functioning.
My son is autistic and we have tried everything through the years beginning with routines and the only thing that has helped him somewhat is medication. We started at the age of 3 giving him melatonin. He is now 10 and he is on Lunesta. They seem to work for awhile and he gradually gets immune so we move on to the next or try one from the past and often times it will work again for awhile. It doesn’t always give us a full night’s rest but several hours in a row is better than none!
We tried all sorts of changes in our son’s environment, bedtime routines, soothing foods and beverages–nothing worked. Finally, his psychiatrist prescribed Trazodone, a mild SSRI that has a side affect of helping a person fall asleep and stay asleep. It can be taken as needed, and the dosage for a little person would be very low, around 13 mg, if I remember correctly. I’ve tried it a few times myself to see how it feels. At the proper dosage, there’s no morning drowsiness (and certainly nothing worse than the tiredness after being awake much of the night). It’s been a great blessing and relief for our son and for us. It has helped our autistic nephew (also 4) with his sleep problems, too, and greatly aided the older brother who shares a room with him.
I am an occupational therapist working with autistic children for many years. I have a lot of success with my children with sleep difficulties with the use of a weighted blanket. It helps provide necessary sensory input to calm the child down for sleeping.
I have an autistic son no sleep issues as long as we keep him on schedule and routine now I have heard of some people giving st john warts to help the child relax so they can go to sleep. If she is on any meds give them 1st thing in morning. If my son get out of wack and stays up past his sleeping time he is up for hours but when hes out hes out…check with his dr to see if there may be something mild he can take to help him start the sleep pattern
It would be helpful to know more about the sleep patterns. My daughter, 7, on the spectrum, has trouble getting to sleep a lot. She never seems to be able to relax and let sleep come. She wants to sleep on the bed, then on the floor, then on the other end of the bed, etc. My wife and I just try to be calm and allow her to find her place where she feels grounded and comfortable. We will not put her on medication unless it is the absolute last thing to do. There have been times where it will take her 3 hours to finally get to sleep. All I can say is to hang in there, seek professional help for your child, perhaps a organization the specifically treats children with autism that can offer behavioral help.
Of course not knowing specifically what the issues are, this is all I can offer. Good luck!
Hi. I have a son with Asperger’s who often has a hard time getting to sleep. We tried putting epsom salts in his bath water, but this made him hyper. What finally worked for us was to give him a small dose of melatonin before bedtime. We only do this when he is in a ‘rut’ and having an especially hard time relaxing. I’ve also heard that a liquid calcium supplement before bedtime can help some children with autism sleep better. Good luck!!
Try melatonin. Its with the other vitamins in any drug store. Its over the counter and helps regulate sleep. It has helped many with autism. Another one is clonidine. It is a prescription medication that my son takes for autism. I give a small dose in the mornings to help him stay calm and focused and then a little more at night when he is going through his sleeping issues. Talk to his doctor first. My son is also 4 and without clonidine I was up every two hours with him! Then at 2am he would be up for the day!!! I know your pain.
Having a 4 yr old on the spectrum I can feel for ya lots. He still wakes up 2-3times a night. We have been looking into supplements to help him sleep better. I would prefer a supplement to a sleep med anyday. If it gets really bad our Dr told us a 1/4 tsp of Benadryl OCCASIONALLY isnt harmful or habit forming.
I have a goddaughter who is autistic and 15 she had the same problem and her mother had her put on medication. You need all the support you can get. I don’t think there is anything you can do but get an opinion from his doctor. Taking care of a child is exhausting and at the same time rewarding. They are now coming out with more information and making the public more aware of this. 1 in 150 children are born with this. You have a very busy life with work, school, and your son I am going to put you in my prayers and pray you will find all this hard work rewarding.
Our son will be five in August and on the spectrum.
We have been struggling with sleep issues every since he was born. He started sleeping through the night two years ago but still struggles to fall asleep. I work full time so your ? caught my eye. I have read an awful lot about melatonin but that sounds more like a solution to sleep issues. I read a few blogs about keeping the schedule which we do our best to maintain. The other idea that seems like a must try for our household is the visual schedule. I can’t wait to try this as I know our son has been exposed to schedules at preschool. Much like the previous responder I will pray for you and hope that you are able to work through these challenges!
Hello -
What is it about his sleeping pattern that is horrible? Does he wake up, go to sleep late?
There may be an underlying cause for this other than his Autism so its best to check with your GP or health professional.
Try looking at his routine during the day; maybe there is too much going on for him? Does he have a good balance; time to relax, time to be hypo, etc??
You mentioned that you were exhausted; do you have someone to share the load with you? There are lots of different support options you can try; from a person coming in 1 hour a week, or maybe respite every now and then, or camps for you both to go on..
Ive heard the weighted blanket can be helpful, however you may need to order online.
Check his room; sometimes it might not be suitable; e.g. the red paint on his wall is keeping him up, or he doesn’t like the satin sheets, or maybe there is a noise that happens during the night?
It’s a lot of trail and error here!! But i wish you all the best.
Cheers; K