Sleep problems with AS kids

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Ive ALLWAYS had trouble sleeping

My sleep patterns are usully: weekdays - go to bed about 11:00, finley manage to get to sleep about 3am, wake up about 7 to 7:15
weekends - go to bed about 1-2am, finley manage to get to sleep about 4-5 am, wake up about 10-12

I don't have kids but I used to have functionally crippling insomnia, so I thought I'd mention my own experience. I hate to say it, but the only thing that really helped and helps me sleep still was medication. I am by no means saying "drug your kid" but what I'm on now "Zyprexa" stops racing thoughts, which helps during the day, and which also allows me to actually shut down at night. The problem before was that my body was tired but my brain was wide awake and overactive. Before that I could only sleep if someone else was in the room with me, or after hours and hours of lying there.

I'd hope it was the body readjusting after a sickness. If not, try to figure out if it's just his circadian rhythm or if he's being kept awake by something else- if it's just an overactive mind, there's probably some way to teach him to calm his thuoghts down. The only suggestion I have there is that even now I sleep better if I've read before bed- if he likes to read, it's a nice midway sedentary activity that slows your body down and focuses your mind. or kills time before your body is actually ready to sleep.

I might add that because of my insomnia and other problems I probably actually went to about 9 years of school in kingergarten through twelfth grade and am doing fine in college with near perfect attendance and decent grades.

I sometimes have trouble sleeping because of multiple reasons. Sometimes my mind is racing, or it's too hot, or my PJ's don't seem right, or my position...there's lots of things that could affect sleep. I do lack a routine, though, which plays a huge factor in sleep.

When I had a root canal, it gave me a horrible toothache. To combat it, the dentist prescribed me Vicodin. It totally affected my brain in the best way I can remember. Instead of racing thoughts, all I had in my head was white noise. I found it hard to think "about" anything. It also made me really drowsy. For the first time in my entire life (yes, entire life), I fell asleep the second my head hit the pillow. So next time you have an injury or a root canal, ask for Vicodin, and take advantage of its side effects.

My 11 year old has always had sleeping problems. He lays awake for a long time before he goes to sleep and more often than not he wanders the house at about 2a.m. He also has night terrors about once a month more often if things are busy. He is also very rude if he doesn't get enough sleep.

When I was in school I wouldn't fall asleep till 3am,wake up at 6:30 and be fine

Every since my son was born until now at the age of 9 has not slept much. He rarely took naps as a baby and when he did the naps were not very long. He would not go to bed until about 2am. And would still wake up at least a couple times before morning. When he turned 4 years old he was diagnosed with ADHD and the doctor said that is why he had trouble sleeping. He was proscribed clonidine to help him sleep. This did help him go to sleep but it would still be between 10 an 11 or so before he would go to sleep. Also he would not always stay asleep. He still wakes up around 3am and 4am sometimes. Sometime he will go to sleep when it is time to wake up to go to school and then sometimes he does not go to bed until the next night. So now, my son being 9 now, the doctor has changed from clonidine one at night time to Kapvay one in the morning and one at 6pm to help him sleep. This seems to be working a little better. I just hate that I have to medicate my young son to go to sleep. It just seems that there should be something else that could be done. Has anyone ever had a sleep research done? Does any one know of any other solutions to my problem?

I don't have kids and I am HFA

When I was little I was a earily riser but as I got older I actually became a Night owl

My son has always had sleep issues, starting at about a year old.

As a toddler, he was difficult to get to sleep (I could only get him to sleep by reading to him in the dark by flashlight) and early, EARLY to rise... like 3am early. He is an ADHD Aspie, so when he's up, HE'S UP!

As he got older, getting him to sleep was no problem... at about 7:30-8:00 he'd drop into a near-coma.. Literally, I could stand him and force him to walk to his room and he'd never make a sound or open an eye.. (Had to manually start the walk, lifting one leg at a time) But he still got up at about 3 am... So about a year or so ago, I started getting him to stay up later, a little at a time. Now he goes to bed by about 10-10:30 and sleeps until about 6 or 7..

Actually in the last 2 weeks I've had to wake him up 4 times to get ready for school! And Saturday, we .... wait for it......... we slept in until 8:30... This has NEVER happened before unless he was seriously sick.

When my daughter was little she'd go to sleep early but wake early- 5am was normal. Even if I kept her awake late, she'd still wake at 5am but then she'd be a total pill all day.

Now that she's a teen, she has trouble falling asleep and sometimes is awake into the wee hours of the morning. Nothing seems to help- my sister even gave her a sleeping pill once and still she couldn't sleep. (BTW- when I found out I flipped, so won't happen again!)

The funniest thing is that when she sleeps nothing wakes her. Nothing. Last year when we were at a motel I left the room while she was sleeping to walk the dog. When I came back the electronic key thing didn't work. The battery ended up being dead, so the desk clerk and I were both pounding on the doors and windows and shouting. We woke up half the motel, but not Sammy. Nope, still asleep. They eventually had to call the manager at home to come out with a master key to let me in

She has always been a deep sleeper that way- this caused nightime incontinence until she was 10.

Mine wakes at the crack of dawn no matter what time he goes to sleep. I don't know if that's a "sleep issue". We both have issues quieting our minds to fall asleep. We now use Inositol http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inositol and Melatonin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melatonin respectively. The Inositol has been brilliant for anxiety and the Melatonin has been very helpful for falling to sleep. My son gets half the adult dose of both. Inositol on a regular basis and Melatonin when he feels he might need it (if he is overly anxious about going to sleep due to a previous nightmare or something difficult in the day).

lol im looking at this at 4 in the morning after a sleepless night.

My son has ALWAYS had trouble with sleep. He's only 4.5, so I don't have a lot of years to talk about here. But, as an infant, he had to sleep with me or he was up every 30 minutes. He slept with either my husband or me in his bed until about a year ago. He seems to go through phases. Sometimes, he'll have a hard time falling asleep, and other times, he'll wake up super early and not be able to go back to sleep (like 3 or 4 am). He's always been an early riser. We usually get to sleep until about 6:00 or 6:30 these days and that feels like a treat. One thing that has helped tremendously with falling to sleep is using a weighted blanket. Before we got it, he would toss and turn and just couldn't settle his body. He still a lot of racing thoughts at times, but he can go to sleep in about 20 minutes now (instead of an hour or two like before).

We are lucky in that he's got a good routine. He doesn't fight us when it comes to turning off the light or anything. And, usually, if we can get him to bed before he's overtired, he settles down faster.

I should add that he gave up napping completely when he was 2. Before that, we had short little cat naps. I still can't believe that some of my friends kids nap even at this age!

My daughter, who is 3 yrs of age, has not been fully diagnosed with Asperger's yet but I wanted to add after reading your stories that my experience is a little different. She was a terrific sleeper til about 15 or so months of age. After that she would have horrible night terrors at least once a month and as she turned 2 up until now, she would have very restless nights which would result in what I have termed fits of anger. She has a routine and sleeps on schedule only she keeps waking up crying, sometimes very angry and upset about something I can never figure out. This was almost a daily thing. She is currently on medication and her nights are so much better now.

Well, if your son is sleepy and hard to wake then apparently he does need more sleep.

My 8yo is dxed with AS - we have been using melatonin with her since she was 4. If left to her own devises she stays up to midnight or later. She actually does seem to operate on less sleep than other kids - she's good with 5-6 hours of sleep with no sleepiness during the day. When left to wake up on her own, there are no issues. When we wake her, it's a slow repetative process until we can coax her awake. We allow an extra 1/2 in the mornings to assure she has a good morning. The morning routine is essential. If we tried to force her to wake up immediately, it would be an instant grump right into meltdown.

I'm also a nightowl but I can easily sleep 12 hours no problem. Even with plenty of sleep, I don't 'wake up' until after 10am. My brain is much sharper, focused and energized as the sun goes down. When forced to go to be by 10pm, I feel like I'm wasting half of my productive day.

I vote for this thread as "Biggest Bump"