Aspie and sleep issues

[DawnM]

Anyone else have problems with this?

 

My 14 year old will sometimes not sleep much at all, if at all, during the night.

 

When he was born he was like this. He didn't sleep through the night until around age 4. When he was 2-3 he would get out of his toddler bed around 2am, go to the living room to play and yell down the hallway, "HEY EVERYBODY, I AM ALL ALONE DOWN HERE!"

 

He finally slept ok around 4, but at preschool he would not take naps at all. They ended up having to put him in a different room and allowing him some quiet toys so that he didn't wake everyone else up.

 

Through the years he will have bouts of not being able to sleep. He can't sleep the first night on a vacation or camp out, but I think that is somewhat normal to not sleep well the first night in a new location.

 

But at home there are many nights he gets very little sleep. We have lights out by 10:00 or so, so he isn't staying up with lights on and activity.

 

Anyone else with this issue? Solutions?

 

Dawn

[Dandelion]

DS has sleep issues too (always has). His main issue is getting to sleep - he's knocked out once he manages to fall asleep.

 

What has helped us the most is Melatonin (DS takes 3mg about an hour before bedtime). Once we started Melatonin, he was able to start falling asleep between 9-10pm instead of 1-2am.

 

Another helpful change was making sure we don't give certain vitamins after 4pm (multi-vitamins, B vitamins, and EFA's can keep you awake at night if given too late in the day).

 

DS also likes to snack late at night - I'm trying (not always succeeding, but trying ;)) to get him to eat more at dinner, so there's less of an urge to snack later as this can also cause sleep issues.

 

Sleep issues are so frustrating, and really take their toll on the whole family. I hope you find something that helps your DS!

[SweetMissMagnolia]

I've heard of sleep issues like that but no experience with them-my kiddo's main issue is settling down for the night-he will LITERALLY talk himself to sleep--he can be in the middle of talking and mid sentence he'll just stop talking and you'll look and he'll be sound asleep LOL.....

[mc26]

Mine has sleep issues and refuses to take melatonin. Grr. We have had some success getting him settled down for the night with a weighted blanket.

[Celia]

My son sounds a lot like yours. He barely slept until he was nearly 4. That was exhausting! And over the last few months, he's been having trouble again. I've not done anything for it yet, though I am planning on talking to the pediatrician about it. I find a consistant routine helps the most at this point.

[elise1mds]

Melatonin, routine, weighted blanket, and luck.

 

DS has never been a good sleeper. He didn't sleep through the night till he was 8 1/2 months old. He learned to climb out of his crib at 22 months and was moved to a toddler bed, at which point in time he learned to open the door to his room (he was and is extremely tall for his age). We had epic battles nearly every night, usually lasting till at least 11 p.m. I was as consistent as humanly possible and it did no good. He, too, had to be put in a separate area for quiet time in preschool, even though he consistently napped at home. He had his tonsils and adenoids removed when he was 5, and that helped a little bit but didn't really solve anything long-term. He literally cannot sleep in the same bed as his sister - she'll want to sleep, but he'll keep her awake for hours and hours talking and pestering her until she snaps. Just a few nights ago I caught him in the living room at 3 a.m. playing games on his Kindle Fire.

 

I can always tell when he's been awake during the night because he'll practically be narcoleptic the next day. He just about fell asleep in the van on the way to his swim team practice today, for example. And, of course, napping gets him into a routine of wanting to take naps every day and then be up all night... which is complicated because he's very much a morning person, not a night owl, and gets incredibly cranky if he's out of the house past about 8:30 p.m. By that hour, he wants to be AT home, IN bed. *sigh*

 

We give him 3-6 mg of melatonin at night, and I can tell if he hasn't taken it. It does help significantly, though it's not an instant fix. Routine, his weighted blanket (this is particularly useful on days when he's been stressed out), and the knowledge that we'll get through another round of nighttime alertness is what gets us all through it. I think it's just something he'll have to learn to deal with throughout his life.

[DawnM]

Mine will not sleep at night, will not nap, and will not be narcoleptic. He just wants to be awake all the time.

 

Usually after a couple of nights of not sleeping much he will eventually sleep.

 

However, we do get bad moods and attitudes from lack of sleep.

 

Dawn

[DawnM]

I am not sure he will try a weighted blanket. Where do you get them?

 

I will try the melatonin though, I would love it if that will help.

 

Dawn

[elise1mds]

My mom made ours. She found a pattern somewhere online and used poly pellets so that it could go through the washing machine.

 

One more thing you could try - we haven't had much success with it until very recently - is meditation and structured breathing. We've been using it primarily to alleviate stressful situations and outbursts, but it might be something else for him to try when he can't sleep? Perhaps if he can get his brain to stop churning, he might be able to sleep?

 

Insomnia is so frustrating for all of you, I know. :grouphug:

[Tap]

DD5s therapist tells me that sleep issues are very common for kids on the spectrum.

 

Dd has been on trazodone (prescription sleep med) for over a year. It makes a big difference for her attitude the next day. It was the first med that her psychiatrist put her on and the only one we haven't changed since we started medicating her.

 

She has just started using her weighted blanket for naps. She doens't like it at night, but will use it while watching a movie in the afternoon. If the house is quiet and she has the blanket she will fall asleep for a couple of blissful hours. I ordered ours online from Dreamcatchers.

[Finnella]

We're using trazodone too. Melatonin worked for a couple of years, but eventually stopped helping. (He's even had a sleep study, which turned up nothing.)

 

Good sleep hygiene is really important. Things like keeping a regular schedule, even on the weekends.

 

My DS had very low iron levels. The sleep doctor tested him for that, and he takes iron supplements now.

 

One big thing is to try to get exercise into the daily routine. Everyone who spoke at the local conference for Autism & Aspergers (Temple Grandin and Dr. Attwood included) stressed how important regular exercise is for our kids. We don't do anything organized. It's mostly just riding his bike around the neighborhood. That helps with concentration and sleep.

[AK_Mom4]

For DS16, it was low vitamin D levels (yeah, it gets pretty dark here in the winter!). DS16 would have trouble falling asleep or would wake up after an hour and not be able to go back to sleep. His doc did a blood test and the vitamin D levels turned up very low. Once we started supplementing (4000iu D3 daily), DS16 started sleeping better at night as well as being less grumpy during the day. He says he feels better too!

[Finnella]

For DS16, it was low vitamin D levels (yeah, it gets pretty dark here in the winter!). DS16 would have trouble falling asleep or would wake up after an hour and not be able to go back to sleep. His doc did a blood test and the vitamin D levels turned up very low. Once we started supplementing (4000iu D3 daily), DS16 started sleeping better at night as well as being less grumpy during the day. He says he feels better too!

 

That's probably more common than people realize. Our pediatrician has me give both my sons 2,000IU of D3 daily. She was shocked that her family spend lots of times outdoors and came up deficient. And we live in North Carolina.

 

My husband and I are definitely deficient; it took almost 18 months of heavy supplementation to get me into normal range.

[AngieW in Texas]

My 13yo with sleep issues is the only one who is NOT Aspie. She is also on trazodone now and it has been amazing for her. All the OTC things we had tried stopped working after a while. She had good sleep hygiene and desperately wanted to sleep, but just couldn't do it. When she finally did manage to fall asleep, she would wake up after a few hours and go through the whole thing all over again.