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Original poster

Coincidence or is this the key to sleep issues for ds (ASD)

15 replies

Catsdontcare · 10/01/2012 21:03

Ds has been taking longer and longer to settle to sleep over the last year. Generally he takes 2 to 3 hours to fall asleep. Used to be just the odd night that he took so long to settle but for the past few months it has been every night.

I've been keeping a sleep diary and in the last two weeks there has been two occasions when he fell asleep straight away and on these nights he had watched no tv from about 5pm onwards. So I tried it again tonight. He had 45 minutes of tv at 4.30pm whilst I cooked and then nothing before bed and do you know what he was out for the count within ten minutes!

Maybe I'm clutching at straws here but is there a link between ASD, poor sleep and tv ( I know sleep issues is a common theme in ASD).

OP posts:
Original poster
Catsdontcare · 10/01/2012 21:05

Come to think of it other than when I was cooking tea the tv had not been on all day so maybe it needs to be off all bar 30 or 40 mins a day?

OP posts:
Chundle · 10/01/2012 21:17

I'm going to try it tomoz with my dd2! She has no dx as yet but has horrific sleep and even melatonin doesn't help much. So no tv is it then!

Original poster
Catsdontcare · 10/01/2012 21:24

Please let me know how you get on!

It's been on my mind recently to cut down on tv time anyway but you know how life gets in the way?! However if this is potentially the key to ds's sleep settling issues then it will be a great motivator to keeping the tv off.

We did also have a very quiet run up to bedtime tonight, bath, puzzles, salt activities so that may also have helped but even when we've done that in the past he's still taken an age to drop off.

OP posts:
AnarchyAunt · 10/01/2012 21:32

I have no SN experience but, TV watching (especially in the evening) is linked to sleep disturbance generally. So it is a real possibility.

WannabeMegMarch · 10/01/2012 22:27

Fascinating...I do know I heard one expert say something about tv, the 'flicker rate' of the pictures (be it tv, ipad, wii, ds,laptop whatever) and its effects on brainwave activity. I think she was saying that we need alpha brain waves to 'switch off' and that tv/devices promote the opposite.

tabulahrasa · 11/01/2012 03:06

There's been studies showing that watching tv lowers melatonin production, which of course is a sleep hormone

Original poster
Catsdontcare · 11/01/2012 11:47

well a good nights sleep was had by all so will see how we go with it (fingers crossed)

OP posts:
cwtch4967 · 11/01/2012 16:53

It's the opposite in our house!!! Ds has always been a nightmare sleeping but now settles himself to sleep after watching a dvd in his bedroom...........I resisted for a long time but tried it in desperation. It works for us - he winds down and usually waits for the film to finish them tucks himself into bed, sometimes he falls asleep watching if he is very tired! From being awake half the night he now sleeps through most nights!!!

Original poster
Catsdontcare · 11/01/2012 22:27

Only 20 mins of tv today and out like a light again. Hooray!!

Interesting that your ds is the polar opposite cwtch. Guess it just shows how different they all are. Tv or no tv, either way it's nice to find a potential solution to a problem!!

OP posts:
nightcat · 14/01/2012 18:34

I noticed it on myself if I use computer before bed, it takes me hours to get to sleep and I thought it was me!

great post, thank you for mentioning!

Original poster
Catsdontcare · 14/01/2012 19:29

Yup five consecutive nights of falling asleep within ten minutes!! Fingers crossed that we have found a long term solution!

OP posts:
coff33pot · 14/01/2012 22:58

Well done!! Smile

Unfortunately I am at the opposite too. DS has to have a DVD the same one every night as part of his routine. As soon as it finishes though he is out like a light.

I have to say though after school DS only has TV time at 4pm for half hour then 6pm for half hour and more colouring, art and building things instead and that has made him less hyperactive so I think you are right that there is something in it.

Tiggles · 15/01/2012 18:17

I finally appear to found a solution towards DS2 sleep problems that thought would share. He now sleeps with a very soft snuggly fleece blanket over his pillow and sheet. He is very touch sensitive and this has made a massive difference. Didn't occur to me that he probably was struggling with the feeling of the cotton sheets.

thisisyesterday · 15/01/2012 21:51

OP, we noticed a similar thing with ds1 before he even had a diagnosis and for a long time we've had a rule about no "screens" after tea.

with ds1 it's a case of whatever he has been doing most recently playing on his mind and he just can't sleep for thinking about it. so if he has been playing a game on the computer he will come down over and over and over again to say "can we do this in minecraft..." or "in zelda can you do x,y,z.."

it basically leaves him buzzing!

Lovelyboys · 16/01/2012 08:58

Hi,
Have tried the "no tv " for my ds1 who has sleep issues, he use to take about hour an a half to sleep and now for the past 3 days with no tv after his last meal has reduced it to an hour, that half a hour seems like a lot to me...lol
Thanks for sharing, will keep trying to see if it works as a long term solution for me, fingers cross..hope it does.
Thanks Thanks

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