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settling to sleep

3 replies

sphil · 01/11/2005 22:41

I'm sure this has been discussed over and over again, but hope you'll give me the benefit of your accumulated wisdom!

DS2 (3 yrs old with speech delay and autistic traits including sensory difficulties)finds it very hard to settle to sleep. We follow the same routine every night: BIBIC sensory programme (which he enjoys),bath, milk, stories, bed. However tired he is, and however calm and relaxed he's been downstairs, the minute he hits the bed it's as if someone's revved him up. He starts pelvic thrusting the mattress (sorry, but that's exactly what it looks like) and making excited squeals. The minute I leave the room, he's out of bed, running up and down, getting every toy off the shelf, playing with it for a few seconds the discarding it on the floor. We have a stairgate on his door, but leave the door ajar as he doesn't call out if he's distressed. He comes to the barrier frequently,pushes the door wide open and looks over it. If we say 'Go to bed Henry'(or even just look at him sternly) he runs back into bed, but a few seconds later the whole process starts again. He's never distressed, just really excited.

I've tried staying with him until he falls asleep, but the problem is that this doesn't work until he's at least a bit relaxed. Before that he just wriggles and pushes me away. We tried a musical toy that plays lullabies, but it just made him more excited. Singing him lullabies myself used to work, but doesn't any more. In fact, I would say the problem has got steadily worse over the last six months or so.

I realise that we're lucky as once he is asleep, he usually sleeps through the night. He only sleeps for about 9-10 hours a day however, so if he has a daytime nap we're stuffed!

Any ideas anyone? I'd just like my evening back!

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Lillypond · 01/11/2005 23:25

sphil - We had this problem with DS. At around 7 - 8pm he gets a surge of energy no matter how tired he is. He jumps, flaps spins etc. This used to go on all night and it was distressing for me as well as exhausting as you could see the tiredness in him but he couldn't give in.

Our Paed. prescribed melatonin and it's sorted the problem out. We give it to him at about 8pm and he's asleep within 30 minutes. He still wakes up at night and has super hearing so hears DP get up for work at 4am so thats when he starts his day. It's not ideal but bliss compared to what we had before.

Has your Paed. mentioned this to you?

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coppertop · 02/11/2005 10:06

Ds2 gets extremely hyper when he's tired. He tends to run round and round, jump, bounce, do a full gymnastics routine while shrieking and squealing merrily away. It only ends when he conks out either on the floor or in an empty laundry basket (don't ask!). Nowadays 11pm is an early night for him, although he may still be awake at 1.30am.

The only advice the Paed would give was to try to get him to sleep before he was tired, but the chances of that working for ds2 are virtually nil. Melatonin seems to work well for a lot of people so it may be worth investigating for your ds. I think you need to either get a Paed to prescribe it or you can get it over the internet. I've not tried it yet as ds1 has improved since he started school and it's still early days (pardon the pun!) for ds2.

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Davros · 02/11/2005 16:22

I agree, DS gets quite hyper the more tired he is too! We also get melatonin from our Paediatrician, lots of people on MN/SN use it. Its not medication, its a hormone and can be bought over the counter in the USA as a health product. Here you can only get it from a COnsultant but at least its free that way! I tried it in the night when DS woke and it didn't work so I assumed he was one of the small percentage it doesn't affect. Then I was desperate one evening before bedtime so tried it and he was out like a light! I don't use it most evenings, just when he's very unsettled or if we're going out , helps with the babysitting! The version we get from our Paediatrician is not the best, pills that don't desolve easily, but they work and I can't be fegged to get it on the internet until we have a problem with the ones we've got. Either way, I would recommend trying it, it won't harm your child. It won't KEEP them asleep either, but will get them off.

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