Sleep issues

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how many of you have sleep problems???
My son has them on and off- sometimes he will awake 12 times during the night screaming....
I think that he wakes up 3-5 times a week at least 3 times a night.
then sometimes he is awake for long periods during the night... hours upon hours...
this can leave me exhausted; since someone ( usually me; because my husband works, and I stay home with the kids) has to be with him when he is awake in the night.
How do you deal with it???
Do any of you take meds to help with sleeping??
I was thinking of melatonin (sp?) but I am so hesitant to put a 4 year old on meds./natural or not.
When we moved ( in april) I made sure that he had a good bed time routine and made him sleep in his bed; (the first time in years) he use to sleep on the couch- and would awaken and roam the house....our new (old) house is hugh and I was very afraid that I would not hear him...
so far- he has slept pretty good- but still will wake up often.
and ideas?
Suggestions?
what are some reason that you cant sleep??
I know that sometimes his anxiety levels are high, other than that I dont know why/
Michele

I have always had sleep difficulties. When I was young, I would also wander the hallways at night. Sometimes I would be able to fall asleep again somewhere other than my bed (the couch, the bathroom floor, etc). Having a regular sleep schedule helps somewhat, and you should also look at his diet to make sure he's not eating anything that may be keeping him up. Sugar or caffeine are big instigators of nighttime wakefullness, especially if eaten soon before going to bed.

You can also try giving him something to distract him while he's trying to go to sleep, either read him a book, or put on a movie or TV (at low volume). Sometimes this helps me, sometimes it doesn't. It may work for your son, and it would be a better solution than giving him drugs, especially at such an early age.

You should also remove any other distractions in his room that may keep him awake. Sometimes, having a mess or too much busy decoration or even certain colors of paint can be too distracting and keep the mind active when it should be resting. Also, sounds and smells, as well as the type of sheets/pajamas he has, may be bothering him. You should probably first take into consideration any major sensory issues he has, and look to see if there is anything that may be bothering him because of that. Then go from there.

Another possibility is that he may have breathing difficulties (one of my major problems), which prevent him from getting enough oxygen to keep his brain "asleep."

If none of this helps, you should probably take him to a doctor. They may have other recommendations, or they may decide to prescribe something. I suggest you get more than one opinion, if that is the case, and you are concerned.

Also- Do you know why he is screaming? Is he able to tell you whether it's a nightmare, or if he's sick, or anxious, or if something else (like his pajamas or something) are bothering him? If it is anxiety, Ladybug is right, first the anxiety must be addressed, and hopefully, a better sleep pattern will fall into place when your son is able to calm down.

The thing to remember here is that you can't force him to sleep, but you probably can help him sleep. For a long time, my parents unfortunately made the mistake of thinking that if they made me stay in bed I would sleep better, but obviously, that isn't the case.

you both made good points-
here is his bedtime/ night routine-
after dinner, bath, a short walk, then he eats a vanilla ice cream cone, watches a short movie ( as he eats his ice cream), uses the potty then we go upstairs to his room: I put him in bed, give him a choice to which book I will read, then after the book I scratch his back for 3 minutes counting down 3,2,1; and then I leave his room....
every night it is the same.

as for his rooms organization:
his room is painted blue/grey with a white ceiling and white doors; there is nothing on his walls- his room is also cleaned up; since he does not play in there, ever ( he realy does not play with toys)
his room has one window (he does not like windows, and when we moved he got the room with the smallest window in it)

He uses a blue lava lamp that he keeps on much of the night- he likes to look at it ( stim)- but I turn it off shortly after he falls asleep- because he does not like shadows.

I know some of his anxiety- shadows, the wind, storms, sometimes he will sleep with an object and he is afraid someone will touch it...

He is packed into his bed- sleeps in a small spac between hugh stuffed animals and he uses a weighted blanket.
Michele
Oh, for the breathing he has never had a sleep study; but he does have asthma ( I know when it is flaring)- and then he will have a breathing treatment before bed and every 4 hours.
Michele

My son has used melatonin since age 5 and has had no side effects at all. It is present naturally in the body, but its thought that some with autism may not produce enough of it. My son was happier and healthier from using it as he was less distressed and could actually manage to sleep without the struggle. I think its worth trying if an adult or child really has a lot of problems sleeping as its not addictive at all.

I have a difficult time falling asleep, so I take medication. Usually I'm out cold when I take my meds---I take seroquel. I've taken medication for sleeping since junior high.

When I was very small, my mother had a hard time putting me to bed--and keeping me in bed! When it was bedtime, she would go sit in the hallway with a book or the newspaper, and yell at me to "get back in bed" whenever I appeared to be out of it. I would usually be asleep after a couple of hours. When I got older, reading a book before bed seemed to calm me down enough to get to sleep.

During junior high, I would sleep while music was playing, but since high school, I learned to appreciate a quiet room as I slept. Now it has to be perfectly quiet in order for me to sleep.

Sleep has been a problem for me for about 13 years or so, I use to take a very long time to fall asleep, but when I did, I would sleep pretty good, getting about 8 - 10 hours of sleep a night.

Then suddenly in September 1991, my sleeping cycle made a drastic change. I went from 8-10 hours a night down to 3-6 and sometimes even less. I'd go to bed at 9pm, fall asleep at 11pm, wake up at 3 or 4 am, lie in bed till 7:30 when I'd get up and ready for school. I'd be dead tired everyday and not really have the energy to do anything. And then there were those weeks where my sleep cycle would stagger and I'd fall asleep an hour later everynight. Eventually I'd have a day where I'd get no sleep at all and would just draaaaaaaaaagggggg my way thru school. Finally after the school year was done, my sleep cycle stabilized somewhat.

But it never was the same again.

I generally sleep... pretty fine. I'm a deep sleeper. Only problem is not sleeping on a regular cycle will really throw me off. I need to work on that.

Here is an a sleep issue topic I brought up last month -----> Head banging in bed thread.

I have gotten used to going to bed toward dawn in the last year or so. My parents wish I wouldn't stay up all night, but I am 27 years old after all and I generally have nowhere to go in the morning (except for Sunday mornings for church). I find so much to do online that my schedule has ended up in this way.

It must be the sensitivity to light issue in regard to prefering night over day.

I get up between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm most days after as few as five to as many as seven to eight hours of sleep per "night."

Oversensitive hearing, eyesight and ssense of smell can make sleeping difficult for AS types. Blackout curtains and a sound and smellproof room, like well away from the 'active' part of the house, if possible, might make a difference for you all.

I made blackout curtains using posterboard. I hung them up over my windows with velcro. I've never slept better during the day. I figured I'd put them up on nights when I had to work, and take them off on days I didn't, but I found I didn't like all that light streaming into my room during the days so there now a permant fixture on my windows.

As for sound issues, the dogs barking, the telephone, vaccum cleaner, the floor boards in our house making noise when someone walks by my room, all have woken me up at night, but once I get in a deep sleep, I pretty oblivious to sounds.

BTW: Can any of you hear the trasformers buzzing in appliances like clock radios when it's really quiet? I can.

I have trouble falling asleep. I usually get sleepy at some hour (different every day), but if I force myself to stay awake, often I can't later fall asleep at all. My sleep is light and I wake up several times during a night (at least once). It gets deeper around the time when I am supposed to get up, so I also have difficulty awakening. Generally my sleeping schedule is variable and can be thrown out of sync easily.

I find that it is usually easier for me to fall asleep with light on, but in later phases light bothers me, so I turn it off when I wake up during the night. I have no problems sleeping during daylight, provided that my body wants to sleep.

Noises wake me up. Air conditioning is loud enough to do so, so I switch it off for the night. The neighbor has a big dog that he used to keep on his patio. The dog was lonely and was howling whole nights, waking me every 5-10 minutes (if I could sleep at all). Nothing worked until I called the police.

Oh my, that sounds like some of the specified requirements for my sugargliders to successfully mate. Their Circadian Rhythm is one of being nocturnal.

LadyBug

I'm an aspie with sleeping problems and asthma as well. I have always had problems getting to sleep. I normally to this day (I'm 18 ) stay awake fairly consistantly in bed or staying up working on something until 11p. I then sleep typically until between 3 and 4am where I awake every morning out of no-where with no apparent reason such as noises, smells, etc. I have always been extremely over-sensitive to the texture of my blankets and can't stand sleeping unless they are weighted, even in the summer time before I got A/C. I'm pretty sure it isn't my asthma causing this as it hasn't bothered me (without being triggered by a list of specific things) since I was around 12. I will say that I'm overly-sensitive to heat. I can't stand being in a room that is above 76, and am fairly unconfortable for falling asleep in anything above 67/68 degrees. I found that havng an air conditioner for in my room this summer and leaving my window cracked open this last winter let me fall asleep sooner and wake up fewer times through-out the night or in some cases later in the morning such as around 6.

I have always slept better with a comforter and then a light blanket on top of it to keep me warm and the air I breath in/on my face cooler.

Does your son show any signs of discomfort with certain temperatures?

I'm pretty much the same way, I can't sleep unless I have my three different layers of blankets on top of me. Sometimes I also tuck them under my matress to get more of a weighted feel to them. And then they all have to be on the bed in the right way, or I can't sleep until their fixed to my liking. We have A/C at our house, but my room has three computers in it, so despite that, my room during summer can get quite toasty. I'll wake up somedays just drenched in sweat.

Unfortunately my room is upstairs and in the same heating zone as two other rooms. Unfortunate again the thermostat is in another room that is always the coolest of the upstairs and leaves the heat on continuously. Unlike the two other rooms, I have a couple of computers (only one server that stays on over-night) and my bedroom stereo system(I find it soothing/relaxing to fall asleep to music) that keep it very toasty in the winter. That is why I always get stuck leaving my window open during the winter even when its below zero. It seems that when ever I get the best sleep I wake up drenched in sweat. On the other hand if I wake up 3:30a as usual, I'm never drenched in sweat. I just lay awake staring out my window (my bed is up against my window) and eventually fall asleep again. Unfortunately when/if I fall asleep again it is usually ten minutes before I need to get up. Strangely enough it is like this regardless of the time I need to get up.

My problem with going to sleep isnt something wrong with my blankets or temperature but just with me not being tired. What i mean is when my mom and dad say alright its time to go to bed I am not tired and they say they are exhausted. I will toss in turn most nights for like 30 min to 2:00 hours. The worst i had was a friday night i got in bed at 11:30p.m. tossed and turned till almost 2.am. and tossed and turned I dont know why this happens I must be just a night person or I dont get enough excercise so my body is tired enough to go to sleep easily. Anyone got and suggestions for me?