To beg for tips with getting my autistic son to sleep?!

[CoughyGoLightly]

Hoping for some tips and ideas of what to try next as my DS (6) is getting worse with not being able to wind down to sleep. He's never been a great sleeper (since birth 😴) but it's been manageable until recently.

In the last few months he's been getting really wired before bedtime and struggling to focus, stay in bed, and wind his brain down. He articulates himself his brain doesn't let him sleep. The tiredness is causing issues at school but the relentless bedtime routine is removing any down time we have as parents (his 3 y/o little brother still wakes in the night so we're on our knees tbh)

Has anyone tried anything with their autistic children they can recommend please? I've seen online things like massage recommended, alongside special sleep aids and other stuff. I don't mind investing the time or money in something so long as it has a chance of working and not being a marketing gimmick

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

I'll get shouted at so please ignore if this goes against your ethics, see if you can get melatonin. If you can't get it here, see if you can order from Europe

I second melatonin

I'll not be doing any shouting at you! After hearing from other parents of autistic children this is actually top of our list once he's been officially diagnosed but unfortunately he's still on the waiting list for an assessment and our GP won't consider it without a diagnosis 😑

Thirded. It was the only thing that worked with our two. Saved my sanity, couldn't manage without it now.

My son’s autistic and I can’t get him to sleep till after ten most nights (he’s eight). Hugging him in my bed to start with seems to help, he relaxes more with me there.

Melatonin and weighted blankets. Also do try to give him some skills to unwind - child-appropriate mediation or mindfulness, breathing practice. As an autistic adult, it served me well to have those tools taught to me in childhood.

My friend uses melatonin for her son.

My boys (both with ASD) have been patchy sleepers.

We found audio books helpful and calming light projectors to keep the room calm.

I stayed with mine until he went to sleep (1-2 hours). He still woke me up every night so finished in my bed. At 10 he got Sertraline for his ocd which let him sleep the night through. Now 15 he's on Tercian every evening which makes him go to sleep (too much anxiety and OCD without it). I would ask your GP about melatonin.

(We get ours from overseas, the youngest has not had her official NHS diagnosis yet, and we used it for the oldest too, prior. From experience, I can recommend not waiting: we use 1mg gummies.)

Another recommendation for melatonin. Our regular GP said they couldn’t prescribe as our diagnosis was done privately and wasn’t officially on record with the practice, so one of my GP friends did a private script for us. Might be worth trying privately or ordering online from America?

Oh, weighted blankets are good too. Is someone reporting posts that mention...

You can gey it here but it needs to be prescribed by a paediatrician initially
It doesn't always work but wwll worth a shot .

...melatonin?

My ASD DS is the same age and has a lumi that plays white noise etc, that has really helped him have good chunks of sleep.

GP should refer to paediatrics for this so you can ask for referral

Does he like audio books? My 17 year old still falls asleep listening to them.

It's usually prescribed by a paediatrician and then GPs can give repeat prescription, s i don't think GP,s can do the initial prescription.

I have 4 autistic children, buy melatonin gummies from Piping Rock. No prescription required. My kids are prescribed it via GP, but i actually buy it from overseas as I find they take the gummies much easier

He needs to be outside, daily, for at least two hours

Needs home cooked food

Little screen time, lots of moving around

My boy can only fall asleep listening to close your eyes sleepy paws from Moshi music. They have loads of sleepy stories you pay for but conveniently he wants the same every time which is the one you can get on YouTube or their app for free. Sometimes he has it twice a night but the routine of brush teeth, story and then lights off and Moshi music worked for us.

Not to disrupt your thread (hopefully it’ll help us both) but how do you get an autistic child to sleep past 4am in the morning? It doesn’t seem to matter what time he goes to bed - early or late. He’s up. No there isn’t any light coming through or anything like that.

DD has never been a sleeper. Things to try, yes melatonin but try first magnesium. I find it really helpful myself too for restless legs. Weighted blanket. And guided meditations - we like the sleep ones on headspace. DD has just done one in fact.

Thank you I'll try this. Our GP is horrendous and needs us to know exactly what we need from them before they will action anything.

And once you’ve done all of this? 😂
Id also love to know how to stop the extreme separation anxiety at night but perhaps that’s a different thread.