Sleeping Difficulties in children with ASD/Aspergers

Lady Chatterton

Guys,

I notice that a few parents of children with autism and aspergers contributed to an earlier thread on "assessments and labelling". My question is primarily aimed at them but I would be grateful for any help or advice I could get on this question.

My cousin's four and a half year old son was diagnosed with autism before his third birthday. However, since birth he has been a very poor sleeper, usually only 3-4 hours a night. His mother has recently had to take leave from work as he wakes up (full of beans) at 4am each day and obviously she was finding it very difficult to concentrate at work due to her own lack of sleep. Family members have been helping out some weekends so the rest of the family get some sleep but it would be great if a proper solution could be found as it is really having a catastrophic affect on the parents in particular (the child seems to function very well on such little sleep).

I'm wondering if this is common in children with autism and aspergers? Also has anyone experienced this? if so, what would you suggest so both the child and the family get a proper nights sleep? My cousin has done all the obvious things, read lots of books on the subject, created a restful room, she has tried melatonin, playing mozart, etc etc but nothing seems to work.

Nevyn

Audio books, I found that I could not make him sleep longer but I could get him to let me sleep longer. The baby gate was kept on the top of the stairs for longer then needed becuase other wise he would wake and wander. These day he still only needs 6 hours and will be awake past midnight but at least he's reading in his room and listening to audio books.

The same when he was younger he was told not to wake us until 7 and to play quietly in his room, I took to leaving a juice box and/or a piece of fruit in there with him for the morning.

coats

I wouldn't just assume that sleep problems are common because the child has autism/aspergers. My 7 year old daughter has been diagnosed with aspergers and she has never had sleep problems, in fact I'd say she over sleeps. She will go to bed about 9 in the evening and have to be dragged out of the bed for school, have tried putting her up earlier but she would still go asleep at the exact same time , weekends are great though, everyone gets a lie-in till around 10.30 or 11.

Lady Chatterton

coats wrote: »

I wouldn't just assume that sleep problems are common because the child has autism/aspergers. My 7 year old daughter has been diagnosed with aspergers and she has never had sleep problems, in fact I'd say she over sleeps. She will go to bed about 9 in the evening and have to be dragged out of the bed for school, have tried putting her up earlier but she would still go asleep at the exact same time , weekends are great though, everyone gets a lie-in till around 10.30 or 11.

Many thanks for your reply. It is really good that your child doesn't have these difficulties.

Just to point out I'm not assuming that sleep problems are common in children with ASD, I am merely asking people for their experience as I would love to be able to help my cousin and her child out if I could.

Having said that, my cousin has discussed her child's sleeping difficulties with her doctor, PHN, Paediatrician and a sleep specialist and they all told her that this can happen with children with ASD as apparently (in some children with this condition) they produce insufficient levels of melatonin (sleep hormone).

V1llianous

MrsD007 wrote: »

Many thanks for your reply. It is really good that your child doesn't have these difficulties.

Just to point out I'm not assuming that sleep problems are common in children with ASD, I am merely asking people for their experience as I would love to be able to help my cousin and her child out if I could.

Having said that, my cousin has discussed her child's sleeping difficulties with her doctor, PHN, Paediatrician and a sleep specialist and they all told her that this can happen with children with ASD as apparently (in some children with this condition) they produce insufficient levels of melatonin (sleep hormone).

We went through a 4 month period of "sleep deprivation" (GP's term) due to son with ASD sleep issues. He would either fall asleep at 5 p.m. and be awake raring to go at 11 p.m. or systematically destroy his room when exhausted until he eventually fell asleep at 11 p.m. and then would wake at 4 a.m.

I researched the issue and hit upon Melatonin and raised it with the Psychiatrist (only people able to prescribe) through the local services section. Since he has been prescribed he happily goes to bed and is asleep generally within an hour. He occasionally still wakes due to thirst or hunger but most nights sleeps through.

If you have a diagnosis and are dealing with Beechpark services or similar multispeciality team just ring the Psychiatrist and explain the situation and ask can you try Melatonin. You'll have to bring child to Doctor to get a checkup, height / weight etc for dosage purposes but it's worth it in the long term believe me.

One issue we found is that different chemists stock different brands (but it often needs to be ordered in specially) - we tried a different brand and I presume even though the dosage was the same the potency must have been lower as it was completely useless. The LifeExtension brand is the one that has worked best for us so have a word with your pharmacist when you get the prescription and see if they can get this brand.

If you need further info feel free to PM me.

Lady Chatterton

V1llianous wrote: »

We went through a 4 month period of "sleep deprivation" (GP's term) due to son with ASD sleep issues. He would either fall asleep at 5 p.m. and be awake raring to go at 11 p.m. or systematically destroy his room when exhausted until he eventually fell asleep at 11 p.m. and then would wake at 4 a.m.

I researched the issue and hit upon Melatonin and raised it with the Psychiatrist (only people able to prescribe) through the local services section. Since he has been prescribed he happily goes to bed and is asleep generally within an hour. He occasionally still wakes due to thirst or hunger but most nights sleeps through.

If you have a diagnosis and are dealing with Beechpark services or similar multispeciality team just ring the Psychiatrist and explain the situation and ask can you try Melatonin. You'll have to bring child to Doctor to get a checkup, height / weight etc for dosage purposes but it's worth it in the long term believe me.

One issue we found is that different chemists stock different brands (but it often needs to be ordered in specially) - we tried a different brand and I presume even though the dosage was the same the potency must have been lower as it was completely useless. The LifeExtension brand is the one that has worked best for us so have a word with your pharmacist when you get the prescription and see if they can get this brand.

If you need further info feel free to PM me.

Many thanks for the information you provided. PM sent. Regards MrsD007