A bit worried about 5 year old

[FiveWhatByFiveWhat]

Hi there,

Every few months my ds goes a bit "out of sorts" - no temp, no sickness, not in pain, basically nothing to really "put my finger on" but he'll be -

Really tired, although sleep gets even more erratic during these times.

Loss of appetite, even his favourite foods

Less enthusiasm for playing etc

Really sensitive - emotionally and sensory wise.

Like today he's seemed a bit more himself after a better night's sleep following 2 nights of constant wake ups etc. This morning he was brighter, but still not eaten anything. We played a bit and chatted but then when getting dressed he got really upset over his socks not being "right" and took himself under his duvet with his teddies and a nightlight and just made sad noises until he fell back asleep at 11.30?! I'm just letting him rest because he obviously needs it.

For full information he's awaiting assessment for autism, fully supported by HV, GP, paediatrition and his teachers (nursery previously) He loves school and is doing well, learning and thriving on the routine every day but I think it does wear him out in some ways too.

We're just letting him rest this weekend, no plans just playing at home, drawing, TV, garden time and maybe the park down the road if he's up to it. Hoping he's ok next week then it's the Easter holidays. We're going away for a bit then and he's really excited (maybe too excited?!) so just hoping he's more himself by then.

Does anyone else have any similar experience?

My eldest is 6 and this sounds totally normal to me. Kids get tired and act in ways we don't always understand/don't always seem logical to us. My eldest still gets like this pretty frequently.

If you already think he might be ND then it’s probably burnout and it sounds like you’re both managing it well with rest and no pressure.

Socks are often a big thing for ND people, speaking as one myself - I hate them, awful foot prisons.

Agree with both poster above. My son will only wear Ultimate Comfort socks from M and S, they’ve not got seams you can feel. It’s reduced some friction at home for us.

It'll probably be behavioural, but as you've mentioned tiredness and lack of appetite maybe get iron/ anaemia levels checked if you haven't already.

He's recently had blood tests done as part of the assessment process and all came back as ok so I don't think it's that.

It's the end of term. They get exhausted.

My son, who is 6, hates seams on socks and can have a melt down about them. Yes to the M&S comfort socks.
he also occasionally goes through phases of extreme tiredness and very emotional. Does tend to correlate with end of term and after busy times. He’s not neurodivergent, just normal behaviour for a child not fully able to regulate his emotions. Just requires a lot of love, understanding, patience and cuddles x

Both of my DC were like this and I put it down to extreme tiredness. I’m not saying that this is you but I feel that children are quite often over stimulated and timetabled nowadays and sometimes they just need to ‘just be’. For us we would say we need to relax or chill, maybe take things easy. Children are no different.

My DD has a July birthday so started school at just four. She fell asleep in the car on the way home from school at about 4.30, I popped her into bed when we got home, out for a wee when I went to bed and she would wake between 5 and 6. I would then cook her a good breakfast and she would have a bath and go off to school. This routine lasted a few months until she managed to cope with the school day but even then bedtime was 6.30 for her for quite some time. I think we can under estimate how much sleep some children need.

Bad tonsils can affect good night sleep which results in tiredness during the day, bad appetite as well... I was surprised how tonsils that are not working as they should present with children meaning he does not have to have other usual simpthoms to be candidate for removal (currently in process with DS1 even though he never displayed sore throath, ear inflammation or anuthing similar I had at 20yo when I had mine removed)