A thread for the SEN parents sat in their kids’ rooms waiting for them to go to sleep

[Brackhurst]

There is Baileys and gin downstairs. There is also a Barbie Dreamhouse to get in from the car, put together and attempt to wrap. But I imagine the Baileys will help.

Solidarity to the rest of you. May you have food and drink in your hand shortly. I was aiming for 9 but looks to be at least 9:30 at this rate. Good thing DC is one of the two best things in the universe 🥰

7 yo twins here , both on ADHD and asd diagnostic pathway. Neither asleep yet. Ones listening to audio books , the other to rainforest sounds. I want to do Santa and go to bed 😭

DS knows it’s Christmas as tree is up etc has eaten chocolates from Box number 24, but has gone to bed tonight knowing its stay in bed Monday- just like a stay in bed Saturday every week night during the year- no need to hype him up the night before when we we can hype him up in the morning and he can enjoy Christmas
years of experience here and know what works for him

@wejammin interested to hear your PDAer can tell you what he needs to cope, at age 11 - v impressed, clever kid. Our PDAer is 6.

DD is now asleep next to me, and DS is with DH.

Love this thread!

First waking of the evening just done, hopefully they’ll resettle 🤦‍♀️

My two are teens now and are beyond the age of bouncing off the walls. But solidarity to all of you. We've been there. Used to be beyond midnight then up by 5am at the latest! Now they don't settle or sleep more but they do understand to stay in their rooms!

Merry Christmas!

I've finally sat down. This is my usual time for getting some dinner.

To all those asking about Melatonin, it is indeed a gift from the Gods! I was on my knees for 18 months before it rescued us.

I hope that you all get some rest soon. Merry Christmas!

Thanks so much for the info about melatonin everyone. New Year’s resolution is to get that sorted. DP & I operate in a kind of survival mode most of the time! DD is actually asleep amazingly! This is early for her 😂. I do hope everyone gets a bit of downtime before it all starts again!

My 9 year old has just woken up. I'm going to be here at least another hour waiting for her to go back to sleep.

Wish I'd seen this thread at 9pm when I was losing my mind. Younger 3 (13 with asd and adhd, 10 with GDD and 9 with ASD) finally fell asleep at 10pm. At least 1 will be up again later. Older 2 are watching die hard. We have a house rule that wrapping must be finished by 23rd so that is all done thank goodness. Ds1 (17 asd) has hit a massive milestone this year. He gave his 3 best friends Christmas presents (that he chose himself) and they gave him presents. This is the boy who aged 4 thought a friend was someone who sat next to him at school. Now he has actual friends who come to our house sometimes!

Last year, 11yo DS didn’t fall asleep until 1am, when I decided to let him come into bed with Mrs I waited and waited for him to be properly asleep so that I could fill his stocking, and it was a real challenge to keep myself from dropping off. And then after I’d got up and filled the stocking I was properly awake and didn’t get back to sleep for a few hours, and was knackered all through Christmas Day.

So I was prepared for that again this year, but he fell asleep in his own bed at 9:30! Absolute result. DH and I watched tv together and I filled the stockings and had some chocolate.

I hope this is the sign of a good Christmas to come.

solidarity with anyone still awake and trying to settle or re-settle Dc.

Ds 12 is finally asleep. He got a bit of pre Christmas anxiety but I managed to reassure him, I think!

@UpWithABang this is a very new development for him, he's matured a lot since starting high school, and starting to recognise his own needs (sometimes!). We do talk to him about neurodiversity and nervous systems (in an age appropriate way) quite a lot and I know he watches YouTube videos by autistic adults/pdaers which definitely helps.

All asleep now so I'm going to bed. Merry Christmas all of you, I hope you manage some peace and self care, even just 2 minutes of quiet breathing x

Still in ds11s room as he has worried that much about not being able to sleep he feels sick. He has stopped crying so hopefully sleep soon

Still going strong here. Could be a couple of hours yet.

Ds is asleep, he's 8. Dd who is 15 is asleep I think. Dd who is 16 and sleeping next to the living room ffs is still in the phone to her bf. She durant live here and ds has given her his room for tonight and he's in with me. It's a townhouse and I need to get everything upstairs to the living room as quietly as I can. Nearly forgot something for ds top. We have had meltdowns today from me (asd) and dd1 and dd2 was risking it and ds cried at bedtime. My mum nearly left and went home. Once we'd flipped we calmed down and it's been lovely since then. I put too much pressure on myself 😩
Solidarity to you all and especially to those who need to build things! I remember those days well🎄

Thought I would join this thread, 11yr old ds still awake 😭 struggling to keep my eyes open and haven't sorted the stockings yet

DC1, 13, is pottering in their room -no point trying to cajole them to go to sleep tonight. It's a lifelong issue and I feel like I have probably spent close to 10,000 hours over the years waiting by their bedside while they settle to sleep.
They asked for me to add phonetime from my parental controls so they could have 5 minutes after midnight to be the first to text all their (sleeping) friends 'Merry Christmas'. Mission accomplished, they'll probably wind down quite quickly.

I'm currently sitting with DC2, 10, who is tying themselves in knots as sleep is proving elusive tonight, poor lamb. They've been trying to settle since 22:00, so this is mildly annoying. Still need to sort gifts into stockings and distribute to bottoms of beds, as well as doing some kind of fireplace carrot and rice-pudding combo for FC and Rudolph.

Mine is 16 . Still awake . I give him melatonin on school / college nights . So no melatonin here .

i just take presents down in the morning .

My 16 y/o is currently playing piano. She 'wants to perfect' a chord. I want her to go to bed so I can put the gifts under the tree & get some sleep. Last year her 19 y/o brother got up at 3am.

still waiting to be brave enough to enter my DCs rooms to retrieve the stockings.... they were in bed, lights out before 9 but im not convinced enough yet....

I've just wrapped son's gifts with the help of his adult sister. She's just gone to bed. He's been bouncing off the walls all day (complicated diagnosis of autism and combined type ADHD). I'm having a glass of wine before I head up. I'm anticipating a very early start. Good luck to you all. Happy Christmas 🎄

Finally think 10yo DS (autistic with ADHD) may be asleep! I’m wedged next to him in his bed, where I’ve been for the last 2 hours. He has cried and raged about not being able to sleep. Also announced he had far too much energy to sleep and I’ve had to peel him off the ceiling! I’m scared to move in case I wake him but I really need a wee 😭

Ds12 took a while to get to sleep. DH had to go in & comfort him because he couldn't get to sleep & was worried Santa would forget him 😥 He was most concerned because he believes that he doesn't close his eyes to sleep (he can't just close them then fall asleep as he will experience tiny epileptic activity if not medicated & this plays on his mind) & thinks Santa won't come if his eyes are open. He is asleep now though.