Could autism be caused by lack of sleep?

[sharptoothlemonshark]

I don't mean the disrupted sleep all babies and toddlers put their parents through, I mean serious sleep deprivation at an early age. Or deprivation of one type of sleep.

With everything we now know of the need for adequate sleep for brain development, it makes sense that babies who do not get enough are not going to develop normally neurologically.

And many parents with children who have serious ASD report MASSIVE lack of sleep, well beyond normal

Anybody have any insights into this link? Which way round is the cause and effect? or could it be a vicious circle?

YABU - no, asd cannot be caused by lack of sleep/ my autistic child always slept well etc

YANBU - my autistic child was sleep deprived/ there might be a causal link between lack of sleep and going on to develop ASD

I'm no expert but I thought poor sleep was a symptom of autism- something to do with melatonin

My lo with ASD slept amazingly well from being a tiny baby, it’s one of my first suspicions that there was something going on with him.

Many people with ASD have disordered sleep. My youngest child has from birth and still suffers now as a young teenager with a sleep disorder. My other child with ASD is a great sleeper though and always has been.

Being autistic is genetic, it's not caused by environment. It's nature not nurture.

I’m autistic (diagnosed late in Adulthood sadly but my parents and teachers and doctors stuck their head in the sand. Because I didn’t present like a typical (boy) child with Autism.

As a baby and child I actually slept really good and the whole night from a few months old.

im now parent to a likely neurodivergent child (still in assessment) too, and they sleep terribly 😭.

I think It’s a symptom for SOME with neurodivergence rather than a cause.

The causality is the other way round, insomnia can be an early symptom

My autistic child was my best sleeper, self settled as a baby and loved to sleep.
Sometimes has a hard time falling asleep due to worries but still loves a lie in.

Sleep issues are a common symptom of autism but not a cause.

The reasons for massively disrupted sleep could be genetic. And massively disrupted sleep is going to cause some problems in development, isn't it. Why might it not cause autism?

No, no evidence for this has been discovered.

Certainly sleep deprivation causes anxiety and emotional disregulation, which are after cited as the main symptoms/characteristics lately, whereas years ago the emphasis was more on social and communication difficulties.

No. Lack of sleep is a symptom of autism not a cause.

I know it is generally accepted to be the other way around, but why should it be?

We need sleep for normal neurological development. So when babies/ toddler are not getting it, we should expect abnormal neurological development, shouldn't we?

My ds(12) was diagnosed very young, just before his 3rd birthday.

Hes always slept like a log once he goes down, slept very well when he was tiny too. I’ve never heard of any studies linking ASD to lack of sleep.

FWIW (and can only be counted as anecdotal), my dc shape up as follows:

dd1 (now an adult, severe. ASD and learning disability) - slept, well, like a baby from very early on. Sleeping midnight to 6am by 6 weeks old, 7pm-7am by 3 months old (had to wake her to feed her, but even then she didn’t rouse, just had milk then straight back to deep sleep).

dd2 (late teen, dx with Asperger’s) moderately good sleeper. Slept reasonably well from around 5 months old. Can now have difficulties getting to sleep, but sleeps well once she is asleep.

ds (early teen, dx with moderate ASD) - ds is arguably the least aff3cted by his ASD out of my 3, but is by far the worst sleeper. Didn’t sleep at all as a baby (not more than 45 minutes at a time, day or night, until he was 18 months old, then only 3 or 4 hours a night until he was over 2). Massively struggles to get to sleep, although sleeps well once he is asleep.

so, in my family, it appears that the more autistic you are, the better you sleep!

No it cannot cause autism. It can be a symptom of autism as some children with autism don't produce the regular amount of melatonin

Neither of your voting options apply. Is this another opportunity to blame parents for having ND children? I pushed myself into PND because my first baby’s sleep was so poor and I blamed myself. Started from birth. Got a great night time sleep routine (daytime was always a losing battle) until pre-school anxiety kicked off. Medicated at 7 with melatonin and diagnosed at 8 with ASD. If only we’d tried harder with the sleeping our child wouldn’t have ASD??? She had sensory issues from birth that made it difficult to sleep. Parents of ND kids are DESPERATE for their DC to sleep.

So are you suggesting that autism is caused by feckless parents who don't ensure proper sleep hygiene for their newborns?

Because that sounds very much like what you are saying.

Because people are born autistic.

It's genetic.

HTH.

@sharptoothlemonshark Uh... nope. I have ASD and have slept well my whole life, never had a single issue with sleep. My NT brother on the other hand is the reason there isn't a third sibling 😂

@HotToes if it's all genetic then how come there's some illnesses which we know caused the onset of some children's autism?

It would follow then that autism can develop at any age if a person was to undergo a prolonged period of sleep deprivation. any cases of adult-onset autism you are aware of? And why pick on ASD specifically? There are multitude of other neurodevelopmental conditions.

Such as? And please provide evidence.

This!

My ASD daugher slept really well when she was a baby / toddler. She’s a teenager know, as has the ridiculous sleep patterns that lots of teenager have

No there aren't!

@sharptoothlemonshark the AS people in my family sleep like logs, and probably 1.5x as long as the others.