ASD Child waking at night

EqualFit

Hi All,

I am the father of a four year girl with ASD.

For the past year she keeps waking up at night (typically 1am) and comes to our bed. This is ok sometimes, but she can be very agitated and keep myself and my wife up all night.

My wife bears the brunt of this as my daughter has become very clingy to her.

My daughter takes melatonin before she goes to bed.

Any advice or experiences on this would be appreciated

KaneToad

I can't comment specifically about ASD but, from a practical point of view, is there any option for you & your wife to alternate who sleeps in the parental bed? With the other spouse sleeping in a spare room.

Sleep deprivation is very, very difficult to handle. If you knew that you'd get a night's sleep every second night it would ease the stress of it.

Good luck and hopefully some ASD specific advice will arrive soon.

phill106

No easy answer, my child similarly seems nocturnal sometimes, also asd and also on melatonin.

Found a lower does can often work better then a higher dose (for us 5ml works best). If she wakes at 1, had previous dose been over 4 hrs ago? Check with doc, but another dose then should be possible. It only helps them get to sleep, doesnt keep them asleep.

We have found that certain drinks can be triggers to keep him up. Obvious ones like coke, but also less obvious like iced tea/ lucozade. Gets very giddy.

I know screentime is a big nono, but with us we kind of have to allow it. Lower the volume and brightness. Blue light/ night mode option if possible.

Also have the clinginess, so much so that if i try to take over, would literally be pushed out of the bed, annoyed with me, waking him up more.

One thing i did find regarding clinginess, when my wife was unavoidably away, he was fine once he saw she wasnt there when going to sleep. However if she is there, her prescence is required!

Its very hard, no good answers. Try and get sleep when you can, even if you are similarly going to bed at 9pm!

EqualFit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121637539#Comment_121637539

That would be ideal. We tried that last week, my daughter woke up later, realised it was me in bed with her, not her mother, then ran around the house looking for her mother.

Thanks, though for the suggestion

EqualFit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121637543#Comment_121637543

Totally the same with my daughter with the clinginess.

If my wife is not there she will happily go to sleep, only seems to be an issue when she is there.

Nice to know we're not the only ones

fits

Could your wife go into her room and sneak out when she settles down again? That’s what we did. It should reduce over time.