Night Waking/Inconsolable Crying

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I read today that sleep disturbances can be common in autistic children. My daughter had a problem with almost nightly waking at age 2-3 where she would need to use the toilet (or not, but usually) and she would just cry uncontrollably from the time she woke to the time she was back in bed. Usually once back in bed she would stop, though sometimes she would continue for a while. This is a rare problem now, but it still happens. It was just one of many things that made us realize something was up before we finally got her a therapist appointment.

We would ask her why she was crying, and she would not respond, she'd just cry harder. It was as if she wasn't mentally engaged, and any interference - be it needing to use the potty or us speaking to her - would trigger her into louder, more inconsolable sobbing. These episodes were total meltdowns sometimes.

Anyone else with similar experiences?

both of my boys did this, just waking up and crying, nothing about the potty though. My oldest still does from time to time, he says he is having a bad dream. But my youngest for awhile was waking up every night and crying for reasons I still don't know. He usually falls asleep with a particular toy in hand and there are times he has woken up screaming for it if he can't find it, and most of the time he comes and gets in my bed. But since I started giving them both Melatonin at night it has helped them both dramatically. My youngest now only wakes up at night about once a week instead of every night.

When my now 10 yr. old son was young (about 2) he would also wake up but wouldn't cry - he would just BE AWAKE from 2:00-4:00 sometimes. He would happily lay in his crib and make little sounds and look around -he never cried. It was unnerving and like all things with small children just stopped. Other sleep issues we've encountered: He very often could not fall asleep until 11:00 or later - this was at 6 or 7 years old when he had to get up at 6:30- it was awful! I let him stay home from school a few times because he didn't get enough sleep. We finally discovered melanotin and except for the normal, occasional night he can't fall asleep he's OK. He did have trouble falling asleep if the room wasn't completely dark, for awhile he had to sleep with a light on (some of these are NT kid things too). Now every so often his waking time will be at 4:30 (thankfully for us! he is a reader so he just reads until we get up) He still sometimes wakes in the middle of the night and just can't fall asleep for awhile -it used to really upset me but what can you do? He eventually falls asleep somehow. He always tells me now "Mom, I just don't think I require as much sleep as other people"

Could it be "night terrors" - which are quite normal, and even more so in autistic kids. They wake up really upset, sometimes screaming with terror, but can't really remember the next day.
My son had a lot of problems sleeping until we discovered melatonin, which rachel46 mentions, too. It has made a huge difference, as he now falls asleep quickly, and has a MUCH better quality of sleep. Apart from being great for him, it absolutely changed MY life, as hours of bed time turmoil and all that getting up to him at night ceased.
I was told that autistic kids often have problems with their pituitary gland, which effects melatonin release, but also growth, regular hormonal cycles ect.
The only other problem I have stumbled on with sleep is epilepsy, which up to a 1/3 of all autistic kids end up having. Many forms of epilepsy effect sleep, some of them are only present when the child is asleep. Not that I think your child has epilepsy, but it is worth knowing about!

My son is 4 and does that- wakes up crying and can't go back to sleep. It seems to happen for him when he has been over-stimulated that day and hasn't had a good sensory diet.

He has always had sleep issues. When he was a baby, he couldn't sleep with anyone else in the room. He could not sleep if there was the tiniest bit of light and would wake up at the crack of dawn every single day. He could never fall asleep in his stroller.

Our doctor suggested melatonin, which has worked for us as well. I only use it on special occasions, like his first week of camp, etc. I don't know if it is habit forming, but I just don't want him to have to rely on it to fall asleep.

p.s. My husband, who has had a lifetime of sleep issues and who is your typical undiagnosed aspie, just got diagnosed with sleep apnea. He now wears a c pap machine at night.

I'll second katrine on this one. You may want to google and read a bit about night terrors. My son did this also, trying to get him to tell me what was wrong resulted in more crying, the tip off for me was that he had absolutely no recollection of anything in the morning.

No night terrors but I was a frequent sleepwalker myself, life long problems with insomnia.

Our daughter used to do the same thing and my wife called it 'night terrors'.

I think this ended around 2nd or 3rd grade?

She also used to stand on her bed or beside it and march in place, wimpering. This meant, to us, she needed to go potty but was too asleep to do it herself.
We would just guide her in, she did the rest.

I sleep-walked when I was a child also, but my mom never mentioned anything like what our daughter did.

I also talk in my sleep... apparently quite often according to my wife.

Hopefully your daughter's thing will eventually pass.

My 13 year old son also used to do the waking between 2-4am every night..it drove me round the bend, knowing he was awake, I couldnt sleep myself. He still wakes early, especially if he has a new game on the computer!

He now shouts about 11pm every night in his sleep, sometimes he will run around, he is always very angry. His eyes are open, but he remembers nothing. It is always around the same time, it scares me sometimes if he suddenly appears, especially if he is shouting.

We were told it might be night epilepsy, I just worry he will hurt himself one day.

It works...mostly

About the hormone imbalance: "second hand knowledge" from my son's psychiatrist. He mentioned growth disturbances, irregular menstrual cycles ect.
Next time I see him, I'll ask where to look - but you could try pubmed if you want.

well i'm 27 yrs old now, and usually for some odd reason i feel tired but cant seem to fall asleep till like 2 am- but usually when i have a pillow to hug i can fall asleep easier. however i do wake up sometimes (somewhat in fear) and cant move for a while. i think it has to do with either sleep de-realization and or sleep apnia, not really sure but it seems to be. cause usually i'm fine when i'm awake, but anxiety usually happens the worst at night for me.