Autistic child won’t sleep

[Strawred]

2 weeks in a row now that he’s woken up at 4am😩 I’m exhausted. Once he’s awake that’s it. Crying to go downstairs. I don’t know why it’s started happening or what I can do🙁

How old is he ?

@sleepandcoffee 4

How old?
I am waking up early (part hormones, part it’s light, birds are singing…)

can you:
-do everything to reduce sun light in room? Black out blinds + curtains? Then leave a little projector/ night light on do the light level doesn’t change?

-likewise bird noise: make sure windows shut (tough in heat), and then play white noise/audio books/ anything with constant noise level, again so the change does nott rouse him.

when he is awake, can he get in bed with you with screen + headphones? At least you could get bit more snooze?
lack of sleep is worst- hopefully you can get some rest at somepoint today.

Is his room dark enough , it starts getting light at 4am so could that be what is waking him ? Could he need a slightly later bedtime ?
I would be getting in bed with him and reading a story to calm him down . If you keep letting him downstairs it will be a habit and will be very tricky to get out of it

It’s common with autism. I did it to my parents and dd did it to me.

what worked for both of us was to set up a rule that bedtime didn’t have to mean sleep. Between certain hours we rest. That means we stay in bed and sleep or engage in quiet activities like reading books or playing with simple toys. This worked pretty easily for dd because she was an early reader, but even picture books will work.

I bought one of those clocks that changes color when it is time to go to bed and when it is ok to get up.

she could come into our room, but she still had to be quiet and let us sleep unless she actually needed something or was upset. She couldn’t wake us up just because she was awake. She could read in our room or play quietly. We kept a little bed in our room for her and she would set herself up there if she needed it. She would often fall back asleep when she took this option. We didn’t want it to be a punishment or to be isolating, even though we did encourage her to stay in her own bed. Having the safety valve of a little bed in our room helped give her a feeling of control.