No Sleep

[happydayyay]

Just wondered if anyone has a child that wakes at night and stays awake for at least five hours.

My dd has been worse than ever this week has not been able to get up for school every morning. She isnt naughty at night but talks to an imaginary person I have told pead about it but he just said we have got to live with it. Its been going on for years now.

Anybody else got a dc simlar as been on web sites and can only find things on night terrors and its not that. Dont know who to ask for help anymore.

Yes ds was the same, even the imaginary friends, his sleeping improved with a combination of Melatonin for a month to help 'reset' his body clock, sensory diet to ensure his sensory needs were being met, relaxation techs from CAMHS, a year and half worths of therapy from CAMHS and changing schools where he was being bullied. Im also having the same problem with you, with doing paragraphs

Thanks for reply CLAW. Ha ha didnt think I would get response from that lousy thread dont know what happened with paragraphs. You mention melatonin but pead said it wont work for dd as she gets to sleep ok about 8pm but wakes about 12pm and talks for hours finally falls back to sleep when time to get up. Im glad you got some help people dont seem to know what im talking about they say just leave her to get on with it but its so loud she s not talking properly as she has speech delay but she is like shes in 2 worlds she can sttop and take a drink from me and then go back to to another world again would love to talk to someone that understands.Thanks again for reply .

I started a thread and it had giant spaces just like yours

There are two types of Melatonin, one is slow release for children who have no trouble getting to sleep, just difficulties with staying asleep. Perhaps you could mention it to Paed.

Is your dd actually talking to an imaginary friend? or just to herself? (i know its the same thing, but slightly different iyswim!) Ds's friend had a name etc, 'George' has gone now, but ds still talks to himself. Does your dd talk to her imaginary friend at any other time of the day or just when she wakes?

Thanks Claw I will ask about that when I see the neurologist as the community pead is useless.
I find it very hard to explain how dd acts at night but once she wakes its like she cant switch off she gets quite excited and she will point and seem like she is kind of talking to a friend but then she will stop and have a drink and go back to it again. I found it really scary at first but Im getting more used to it now. She has done it in the car before whilst awake but we put in a dvd player so she doesnt now.
How old is your ds?

Happyday - I'm really interested to see your thread because my DD, who is just 2, has been like this (well, on and off, depends on the night) since she was just a few months old. To explain: when she was much younger, she would be awake for up to 4 or 5 hours at a time. Not every night, but some nights. Her 'normal' nights are waking up 4-6 times, but sleeping inbetween. But some nights she might wake up at eg 1am and not get back to sleep until eg 6am.
Like your DD, she is language-delayed, and now that she speaks a bit, she talks at night and sometimes she is awake for hours. She also gets very talkative 'to herself' most nights when she is tired, but before she first goes to sleep (ie at bedtime she rambles and starts to gesticulate and can't seem to stop). I've mentioned it to the speech therapise and to others, who don't seem to 'recognise' what I'm talking about.
I wonder whether, when she's a bit older, this 'talking to self' will turn out to be to an imaginary other person.

Sorry, I realise my situation is a bit different, but I recognise a similarity with yours & I've not found anyone else even similar, when I've tried to find out about 'insomnia' during night in toddlers/children.

Please tell me - are you seeing the neurologist about this issue particularly? How did you get referred for that? Was it via the community paed?
Thankyou

Dd1 was similar, used to wake through the night and talk to her imaginarry friend (marv), she's now 7 and sleeps a lot better, dd2 is now doing the waking thing (which is why i'm sat on here at such a nasty hour), she woke at 2am this morning and i have tried everything to get her back to sleep, she's now runing around playing, i'm not sure how she will cope at school today (if i can get her there).

this has been a problem for us for a while but has recently got much worse- DS,4.5, has ASD and has delayed speech and language,but also produces a lot of clear delayed echolalia.he's never really had a problem going to sleep,but has trouble staying asleep.
About once a month he'd wake around 2am and 'talk' well, reel off phrases from ben and holly/pepper pig/ITNG etc He wasn't distressed,didn't get out of bed and would even be in fits of laughter.This would go on for a few hours until he fell back to sleep.
In the last 6 weeks(since we were on holiday and now he's started school)it's become every 3/4 days.We phoned the paediatrician last friday, as going to work sleep deprived was getting too much and also me and DH started snapping at each other-DS totally fine though. She got us some slow release melatonin,3mg.Well it seemed to go ok for 3 days, then DS woke at 1am on Tuesday morning and didn't go back to sleep til 4.30am and then last night he woke at 4.15 and just didn't go back to sleep.
We phoned the paediatrician again today and she said he needs to go to bed later (he's normally in bed by 7.30 and asleep not long after 8) as in put to bed at 8.30 and give melatonin then.
We'll try that tonight.I thought it was just me that had a speech delayed child talking away in the early hours.

some folk have better results with splitting the melatonin dose, so half (or whatever) as part of the bedtime routine, and the rest on waking in the night. sometimes it takes a while to work out the magic dosage, and obv if they wake later then you have to judge whether it could impact getting up, but i've known quite a few parents for whom this has been the solution.

i'm quite surprised the paed hasn't given up and trialled it by now, tbh. ask again and then ask for a second opinion if necessary.

thanks madwoman,will try that tomorrow.

Hi happydayyay
You have my sympathies DD age 6 Emmanuel syndrome has no sleep pattern at all. Will frequently wake at 24.00 hrs and stay awake till 05.00, During this time she is lively and noisy, not unhappy but manages to get her feeding tubes tangled which requires attention from Ma. When I need to wake her 06.30 to get ready for school she has the audacity to yawn! Even keeping her awake during the day makes no difference. Have tried melotonin in split doses - useless, Very occasionally resorted to choral hydrate with ? moderate success but don't like using it.
Good luck and hopefully agood nights sleep

How lovely to hear from other parents with the same problems as we have I have felt so alone with this as no one understands what I mean. I have videod dd on my phone to show pead but nearly burst into tears when he just said establish if she is sleep talking or awake talking its so hard to tell. Then he said he would not give melatonin and we would have to accept that is how she is and learn to live with it.
GREY your dd does sound very simlar and to answer your question dd was refered to nero as she had a convulsion and doc at hospital wanted her to have an mri which she had and it came back scarring on the brain. I dont know if this has anything to do with night talking.
MARNE feel for you having 2 bad sleepers.
RINKY dont know how you manage to work with no sleep.
2OLDTOBEAMUM must be hard when you have feeding tubes to sort out as well.
Thankyou so much for replies sorry you are not getting any sleep either . I am going to try to get some melatonin but app not until Nov .
I dont feel like my dd is the only one now