Any sucees getting your ASD to sleeppast 5am?

[aaronsmummy]

I need help I am now too tired for rational thought. DS2 is 3 and autistic, he never sleeps later than 5am. I think his behaviour problems may be in part down to overtiredness. We haev tried Melatonin but still no more sleep. DD has a habit of waking at around 1am crying with teething and takes a couple of hours to get back to sleep. I am shattered. DS2 shares a room with DS1 who regualarly falls asleep in school and DH and I are rowing we are so tired. Can anyone help?

[aaronsmummy]

Sorry atrocious spelling, eyes are half closed

[Oracle]

What time does DS2 go down? Many children with ASD don't need much sleep and so if he goes down say at 8pm he has had 9 hours and for an ASD child that is a long sleep.

Melatonin only helps the child to go to sleep and not to stay asleep. If you can stand it try keeping DS2 up a little later - of course that may not help at all because a routine is a routine is a routine - which I know only too well, My 9 year old never sleeps befpre 2am not matter what!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oracle

[aaronsmummy]

He goes at 8pm and has a little read before he sleeps. It is his routine and MUST be adhered to or he goes ballistic. He is really hyper so it's a relief to say goodnight to be honest. I should stop moaning 2am is much worse.

Thanks

[onlyjoking9329]

we have three with autism and one of them was always up around three, the thing that worked for him was a blackout blind, made a real difference i think he thought if it was light then it must be morning

[aaronsverytiredmummy]

Thanks oj we have done that already. Think I just have to face the fact he is an early riser although it would help if he had his own room then he could play/read/watch a dvd whilst the rest of us sleep.

[queenmunchkin]

We have 3 kids, all boys. Our youngest son who is 8 has ASD and had sleeping issues to the point where I was arguing with nursery staff because we were late every morning due to him being so tired. He was never asleep before 2am and we eventually tried the services of a community nurse who dealt with child sleeping issues. All to no avail. He was eventually prescribed melatonin to get him over to sleep at night. It reduced the extremity of the lateness at which he was going to bed thus making for a happier little boy in the morning. However, we were told that if the melatonin was unable to keep him in bed for the whole night, there is a slow release form of melatonin available. Maybe you could ask about this and give it a go? Reading your post is a reminder of how things used to be every night in our house and how it affects everyone there. We still have nights when the melatonin doesn't work very well but I have found that if DS only gets it on school nights, then he doesn't build up too much of an immunity to it. We just go with the flow at the weekend and if he goes to bed late on a Friday or Saturday the we just let him have a long lie the following morning.
Please ask about the slow release melatonin as anything is worth giving a go especially when things have gotten so bad for all of you. Let us know how you get on.

[PeachyClairHasBadHair]

It's horrid when you can't get enough sleep, isn't it? And especially heartbreaking when you can see your other kids being affected.

We have the opposite with Sam atm; goes down really late (not tonight but exhausted after a 2 hour meltdown ) and then has to be dragged out of bed in the morning, melatonin works for him BUT only at a really high dose- have you tried upping the dose? For maximum effectiveness we also found it needs to be taken on an emptyish stomach with a minimum of fluid.

When Sam use3d to wake early we had a system where he could go down and watch a dvd but the kitchen door was bolted so he was safe. That was when he was about 4, I think. That helped.

Have you tried ear plugs for ds1? it's abd enough that you two get woken (rota system?) but he shouldn't need to be (easier said than done I know). On really bad night we used to put ds2 in a sleeping bag in our room or the living room.

[aaronsverytiredmummy]

Great idea to try the slow release melatonin,I will see if they do it in liquid form as he won;t take tabs. Shame I never thought about the earplugs for ds1 sooner, dh works in the safety industry and they manufacture them at his plant. He always used them when the babies were having night feeds, I never realised until we were on no.3. Great ideas, thanks.

DD slept through last night so feel a little better this morning although ds2 was awake at 4.30.