Problems waking up

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My 3 yr old daughter with ASD wakes up in meltdowns that last a half hour plus, especially when she wakes up from naps but often when she wakes up in the morning or middle of the night too.

I don't know what triggers them though I suspect it has something to do with her ears cause I see her pulling on them. Her hearing tests came back fine. The best way I find for dealing with the meltdown is to put on music or Elmo and just let her cry it out. After about a half hour she come out of her room and seems fine, like nothing had happened.

Any thoughts on what's causing this? thanks

Maybe they are night terrors. If it is that you can search on the site because there were other discussions about that.


I will post here the symptoms of night terrors:

"Night terrors are most common during the first third of the night, often between midnight and 2 a.m.

* Children often scream and are very frightened and confused. They thrash around violently and are often not aware of their surroundings.
* You may be unable to talk to, comfort, or fully awaken a child who is having a night terror.
* The child may be sweating, breathing very fast (hyperventilatinghyperventilating), have a fast heart ratefast heart rate, and dilated pupils.
* The spell may last 10 - 20 minutes, then normal sleep returns.

Most children are unable to explain what happened the next morning. There is often no memory of the event when they awaken the next day."


from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency ... 000809.htm

I can't really speak to a cause but my 4 yo ASD has a really hard time waking up from naps sometimes too. To combat this, I try to only let him nap for no more than 45 minutes in the hopes that if he doesn't get into a really DEEP sleep he will wake up easier and this generally works. Of course, that's not at all helpful if this is happening to you in the middle of the night or upon waking in the morning. We TRY to make sure he gets a good amount of rest in general with a regular bedtime routine and the difficulties are definitely less when he has fallen asleep and woken up at the appropriate times.

A thought just occurred to me, could she be experiencing low blood sugar levels? This might be the case if you find that her meltdowns seem to coincide with times/days when she has not eaten much (maybe that's not an issue for you, we sometimes go through days where DS doesn't eat much and his behavior often reflects that). If that is the case, a small amount of juice or fruit upon waking would bring up her blood sugar levels and maybe make her feel better.

Maybe it is too quiet in the house. Have you tried soft background music while she sleeps, like a radio or repeating CD?

Thanks mudboy, I'm going to try the repeating CD. She does better with music playing during the day makes sense the she would sleep better with it too, its worth a try. Radio wouldn't work, she has a fit when the announcer or commercials come on

My 8yr old can have meltdowns and get physically abusive if I wake her up too quick. Usually I go rub her back or something until she's a little awake and then I tell her she'll need to get up in about 10 mins and to either start stretching, or get another few minutes of rest. When I come back 10 minutes later it's a whole lot easier to get her going. Or, if I have more time I will get up and put on some music and start doing some chores around the place and the background noises eventually wake her up and she gets up herself no problems.

I myself, set my alarm 1 hour before I need to get up just so I can have the satisfaction of setting it for another hour of sleep. ret*d, I know. But if I don't I have trouble getting up and getting going when it really is time to get up so I can definitely understand a young child having a meltdown when they've been woken before they are ready to get going. Her system might need to be woken up in stages.

It being mostly naps also makes me think of night terrors -- or perhaps sleep terrors is a better term. I used to get them a lot when I napped, especially if the room was bright. Can you make the room darker/quieter for naps? It might help.

My daughter will also go into flying rages if I wake her shortly after she goes to sleep. I've learned to leave her be if she falls asleep on the couch since if I wake her up to move her she will immediately start screaming and flailing around. Then for hours after she will re-wake in the same state kicking and pushing me and crying and screaming but she won't allow me to console her in any manner. She will go crazy if you even touch her. Then, in the morning she has no recollection of it.

I have no idea what it is other than a backlash from her system being interrupted. But I can offer some ((hugs)). Definitely isn't a fun thing to deal with.

I have the same issue with my son he will wake up in a full blown fit, screaming yelling, hitting...it comes and goes but if you wake him up before he is ready it takes an hour to get him to calm down.