Suggestions for sleep issues?

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i am looking for some suggestions on ways to help my 4 yr old aspie with his current sleep problems. background: he has always been a difficult sleeper. he cosleeps and has most of his life with short stints in his shared room with his brother when he is sleeping better. he requires a lot of deep pressure contact and is very physically attached to me, and often the only way he can get to sleep is smashed up against my back. his brain doesnt seem to shut down and get quiet enough for him to go to sleep as easy any other way. he is by nature a night owl and will stay up easily until 1 or 2 am if allowed. he doesnt nap and he sleeps on average 9-10 hours per day which is well below the average for his age.

things in the works:
i have all the materials for a weighted blanket, just trying to find the time to make it.
i am calling today for a dr appt with his ped to see if we can get a scrip for melatonin to try.

things ive tried with no measure of success:
various warm milk or cocoa at bedtime
warm baths

other than that, im kind of out of ideas. his problems are mainly going to sleep, once he gets to sleep he stays asleep okay most of the time. he does do a little better with a more scheduled bedtime/waking routine, but its summer and i cant get his aspie dad to follow through completely with that and i work full time while hes the sah. even during the school year with a set schedule tho we still suffer with the getting to sleep part.

any tips or tricks you other parents have found successful?

If his trouble is getting to sleep and not staying asleep, then melatonin will probably work a charm for him. We started using it for my sons last summer (and for myself). We ended up only needing approx half of the recommended dosage to do the trick, so you may want to start a little low and then go up if needed.

We also do a very quiet and consistent bedtime routine. Bath, snack, reading and then they listen to calming music (orchestral from their favourite movies as they drift off). If we are rushed or the routine is not followed then they have a much more difficult time with sleep. Getting fresh air and exercise during the day also helps.

But in times of illness/stress they will struggle to get to sleep no matter what we do, and this is where the melatonin works wonderfully for us.

Ever notice when you give someone allergy medication that it makes them sleepy? Benadryl, an antihistamine in allergy medication is also, what you will find in most sleep medication.

A dosage of 25 milligrams of Benadryl will usually make someone sleepy...and many physicians will tell their patients to take TWO pills of Benadryl (50 mg) for a restful sleep.

If you wish to use Melatonin, you can find it in any health food store without needing a prescription.

I'm thinking of getting some melatonin for myself, when I get payed, on Friday.

A lot of people use Seroquel for sleep issues, which can also be used for behavior problems.

thank you for the suggestions, keep them coming =) i am looking mainly for non-medicine or natural options to try. hes only 4, we do not medicate our kids unless its absolutely necessary, so we arent really comfortable with using antihistamines for sleep. my sister has been chanting "baby benadryl" at me for months =P Seroquel is an antipsychotic, so thats definitely a no as he really has no outstanding behavioral issues and isnt bipolar or anything.

i know the melatonin is available otc, but ive never used it in any capacity before and was hoping his ped could give us some info on dosage. if anyone knows where i can find a good reputable source of dosage info for kids, im sure i could find it otc somewhere. i think it may really be the best option so far as he seems to sleep easier in winter when it gets dark a lot sooner and that may be because of earlier melatonin production.

i like the music idea, i was thinking about getting some childrens audio books as a way to hold his attention and put them on low volume so he has to be quiet. baths dont work for him as he has a love affair with water, and baths are noisy and rambunctious times that end up with the entire bathroom soaking wet from the splashing =)

i said its like his mind doesnt quiet down, but i guess its more like his whole body is being fed by his brain. we put him to bed and hes often up and down, bouncing, playing with toys. if we get on him he will lay right back down, but he simply cant stay there. hes usually up long after his older brother has fallen asleep, and its not uncommon for him to keep his dad and i awake long after weve gone to bed.

as i am sitting here thinking about it, im realizing his aspie dad has to have tv or mp3 player on to get to sleep easily or he lays awake for hours and he has some stims that he sometimes engages to help himself relax for sleep. duh =) i cant do anything about the stims, but i did just ask my SO to download some childrens audiobooks and we'll put those on a spare mp3 player and give that a try tonight.

Wow, your son sounds exactly like my daughter! We also co-sleep although what started out as convenience now has become impossible to get my daughter to sleep in her own bed. She also is a very physical sleeper, kicking and always right up against me. She has always had a hard time shutting her mind off at night and struggles with falling asleep.

About a month ago, after 3 nights of no sleep for her or me, I went and picked up some over the counter melatonin. It is 1mg tablets. I split them with a tablet splitter because my daughter is extremely sensitive to any chemicals-so she took 1/2 mg. LET ME TELL YOU it was amazing! She was hard asleep within 45 minutes of taking it. Even better, there was not the usual difficulty in falling asleep. Usually, everything has to be "just right" for her to fall asleep. With the melatonin she was literally talking one minute, snoozing the next. Painless.

I don't give it to her every night (I am also leery of substances) but when a difficult night comes around, I use it. There is no residual effect the next day and having a full night's sleep has been amazing!

I tried natural supplements for my sleep issues a while back. Didn't help me, if anything I ended up taking so much melatonin and enough of some other stuff to elevate my seratonin (which, at the time I wouldn't call myself depressed or anything but it was 1/6th of normal) that I wouldn't eat anything else and I'd pass gas constantly.

For me there are a few things that help me sleep (aside from some adult things) and they are racing and RPG (video) games and music. Just something about the two seems to drain my mental energy enough to make me sleep.

My son had similar issues with sleep for 10 years, and we tried almost everything. We finally discussed the issue with our pediatrician, and he recommended a sleep study to help diagnose the problem. We got the sleep study done at Children's Hospital, and through that process discovered it was obstructive sleep apnea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obstructive_sleep_apnea). We then had his tonsils removed at the recommendation of the sleep doctor and in consultation with our pediatrician. Sleep issues went away 100%...seriously he was like a new person from a lack-of-sleep perspective. Still the same old loveable kid though, only more awake and energetic. This was all covered by insurance, not including deductible. Not saying this will work for you, but I suggest you start by discussing the issue with your pediatrician before jumping into medications.

We tried many things and then finally resorted to meds. Our daughter had many of the very same issues that your son has - it was like her mind just kept going and going. She would be starting to get drowsy and then her little eyes would pop open and she'd start talking about things and we would go through that cycle for hours. It literally would take up to 3 hours sometimes to get her to sleep. She was only on the meds (Trazadone) for about a year. She now doesn't use anything at all to help her get to sleep, although, she is on Risperdal to help with outbursts/physical aggression which I'm sure has made it easier for her to get to sleep at night.
She also was one who had trouble getting to sleep, but once she was asleep, she commonly slept through the night without issues.
A few things that we do now when she's having problems that help:
Consistent bedtime routine. Bath to get relaxed, story time, and music (classical and/or spa-type music seems to work best for her). We also have done a couple of other relaxation techniques. When she was 4, we did "sleep clouds" - it would start with her selecting the colors, what was on the could (a nice comfy bed, fluffy pillows, etc.). We then moved to some relaxation techniques - I usually started with her feet, by quietly saying "let your toes relax", "now let your feet relax" - I slowly then kept going until we ended up at her head (about 15 minutes or so to get through it all). We ended with the sleep cloud arriving to pick her up and take her off to dream land.
The other thing that we did was work on her putting her thoughts "away" - we had quiet conversations about putting away her thoughts (she described her thoughts by "color"), so I would slowly suggest that she put all her "red" thoughts away in their special compartment and shut the door, then the blue ones, etc.
It was a bit of work, but it did seem to help her settle in so that she could actually get to sleep.
(And, now, I know you all are saying....."that lady is CRAZY!". The thing you will do to get your child to sleep!).

Gardengirl414, I don't think you're crazy!

My son has only just gone to sleep at 1 am, and it's often later than that. Various things have been tried and worked for a short time only, but I'm definately going to try your relaxation techniques. Thanks for your post.

Like many of our children, my son has great difficulty getting to sleep because he just can't stop thinking, and it seems that a lot of worries come out at night. He saw an Occupational Therapist for the first time the other day and he told her a lot about the problems he has getting to sleep. She is going to borrow a weighted blanket so that we can try that for a while and see if it works. He is a "sensory seeker" and does like to roll up in things, so I'm very hopeful about that. I have had some success in the past with heavier duvets, and even putting a rug from his floor on top of him, but he gets very hot very easily so that only really worked if the weather/his room was very cold.

I would love to try melatonin, and I've talked about with my son who's also keen, but his father (we're separated) got furious with me when I mentioned even just talking to the doctor about it.

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I've also been wondering if this would help our daughter. She likes to be bundled up, but then gets very hot/sweaty because of it. We swaddled her until she was a year old to help with getting her to sleep (I went so far as to buy flannel to make larger receiving blankets when the smaller "baby" ones were no longer big enough).



Sorry to hear this - it really helps to keep an open mind. Melatonin is naturally occurring in the body anyway. I do understand the hesitance to use medications, but of all the ones you could try, this one is probably the closest thing to "natural" and least likely to cause harm. It's amazing what a good nights' sleep can do - our daughter's behavior improved once she started sleeping better. Good luck!

Oh, and the other relaxation technique that works is to have her tighten muscles first (so work from the feet up, having her tighten the muscles and hold for 10 seconds and then relax the muscles), then followed by more soothing talk and having her relax her body section by section. The clenching of the muscles and then releasing actually helps to relax them (or so the therapist said....and it seems to help).

I have about every sleep problem there is and I swear by a calcium/magnesium supplement before bed.