Getting ASD 7 year old to sleep tomorrow night

[ThisisnotwhatIhadplanned]

Dd (7) really struggles with sleep. We have been prescribed Phernegans, Allerief and Melatonin over the years and none have worked (if anything the allergy meds made her more hyper, and the melatonin knocked her out for 2 hours and then she was up at 11pm for the rest of the night).

I am a single mum and we have visitors (and their pets) staying this week. Everything is falling to me-cooking, cleaning, washing, entertaining, driving, feeding and toileting the animals (we have two dogs and we now have an extra dog and cat). No-one is offering any help whatsoever, to the point where I took the kitchen bin out today and by the time I got back into the kitchen someone had thrown a load of wet stuff into the bin-bag-less bin-you’re a bloody adult-just wait for me to come back in and put a bag in the bin, or do it yourself you lazy slob!

Anyway, I’m stressed and tired, which makes dd wired. I finally got her off to sleep at 11:30pm tonight. She is clearly overtired and overstimulated, but tomorrow is going to be even worse isn’t it? I’m dreading it, as I need to somehow stay awake and sneak the presents out, but I’m already at the point of tired when I’m feeling sick and dizzy all the time. The more tired she gets, the harder it is for her to sleep. I bloody hate Christmas!!

I'd send them all home, to be honest. But failing that, sit the adults down and delegate jobs. Now, before it gets worse.

no advice just solidarity. My DD was up until 4am today (5yo ASD). Variations on this 90% of the last couple months. It’s killer!! Somehow feels worse at Xmas.

id hope your guests see how hard it is for you and muck in with jobs or even sitting with DC late (if that would work for you and her) so you can rest.

probably for another thread but interested to hear more about the medication, we want to explore options (tried melatonin which was exactly as you describe).

hope your Xmas period pans out ok, it’s so hard I know.

Tell the adult guests that if they don’t muck in they don’t get Christmas dinner- simple, my asd DD is 14 now but she was/is like your DD, we used to turn all electronics off and do colouring an hour before bedtime, it really helped, we also bought her sleep milk, dunno if they still do it but it comes in different flavours i will see if i can find a picture and post it here, that also helped as we didn’t want to put her on medication so young xx

All I can say is (having been in a similar situation but with two of us), when you have a poorly sleeping ASD child, you need house guests like a hole in the head! Something to think about for next year maybe.

I used to buy it of amazon but not sure if its still on there xx

Same here, melatonin works on one child but not the other 2, one gave up just before 3.30am the other one at 4.45am. Youngest up at just after 6am. Off to farm today trying to stay awake! Can you ask the other adults to help at all if possible?

@onwardandupwards oh gosh so familiar but two children that’s so hard.. have you tried things except for melatonin?

You have my wholehearted sympathy. But you're asking the wrong question.
It should be "How do I get the adults in my home to act like adults and share the responsibilities of a good Christmas "
Followed by "How do I remember next year to not give in to social expectations or family pressure and just have a Christmas that works for my family!!"

Please, don't stress about her sleeping tonight. Christmas Eve. The more you push the less likely it is to go well. Tackle the sleep situation after Christmas.

I honestly do understand the stress of Christmas with an autistic dd. So take care of yourself and lay it out straight for the visitors.