son won't sleep--need help ASAP

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Any good ideas out there for over-the-counter sleep aides? Our son is 9, autistic & diabetic, refusing to sleep the past 6 weeks or so til about 2 a.m. & has to wake up at 6:30 a.m.! Don't know how he's functioning--I'm certainly not. We've used Melatonin, occasionally & sporadically, over the past 2-3 yrs., even tried increasing dosage on it a little lately, just not working anymore. Stevie is bright-eyed, super tense, (as in body-stiff, wired, won't relax) at night. Last night was up til 6 a.m. this morning., had to take to school an hour late to let him have a little sleep. I need to buy something today!! !

Is he on any medication, and what time is the medication given???

Have him run a few laps, or swim a few laps around a pool before bed time,
also, (and this works great for some) give him a cold shower (yes he may hate it but he will get used to it)
then after a short cold shower a nice hot (but not to hot) shower, this will make him tense up for a while then relax,
it may help, then give him a nice warm cup of coco to warm his insides, then use a heavy blanket on his bed.

Last edited by aspergian_mutant on 05 May 2008, 9:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

Does he ask for anything in particular at bedtime? Does he ask to have music or a video playing? Or does he insist on playing or reading?

I, for one, cannot sleep in a quiet room. It takes me forever to finally pass out, if the room is silent, or if the air is too still, or if I have left something undone or unfinished. And I'm 53 years old.

If I don't have something external - though unimportant - to process, then my brain makes its own stuff to ponder. and that keeps me up for a very long time.

It may be worthwhile to move bedtime an hour earlier and indulge him a bit, if any of the above applies. Compromising on stuff like this may seem conterintuitive to getting him to sleep, but it may payoff in the end.

It may not solve the problem tonight, but it may help fairly soon, and will certainly give him more power to manage his sleep in the longterm.

Failing all of that, you may want to ask your doctor if it's ok to give him a tab of Benedryl. It's one of the safer sleeping aids. Of course, you need to check with the doc before giving a child anything, even over-the-counter stuff.

Let us know how it goes.

also, did you move recently? it may be the new surroundings, any new ticking clocks? new textures and stuff in his bedding? new people around his home? change in diet? stuff like that, if you have sudden but lasting changes they may be triggered by something he may not even be aware of.

Thanks to those who answered. No, he's not on meds--just insulin, for diabetes. He will not go in a shower, does not drink warm drinks, although a weighted blanket sounds like a good idea, except during summer (fairly soon here) when it's too warm for that. He ran around 1/2-day yesterday at the park--we thought for sure he'd have slept well last night--no go. So I said "1st sleep, then grandma's house to see her vacuums(his obsession)" thinking that motivator/reward thing would work, but he still was up all night. (He had seen grandma yesterday at park, & wanted to play with her vacuums then, even though they were at her house, not the park.) Maybe he was obsessed all night with this? But still was just one night--there's just too many nights like this lately--not good for him, nor me, trying to run a household & 2 other boys.

Ditto at 49. Must have music, to distract from the incessant internal monologue. As a child, reading used to help - now I'll just lie awake all night reading.

Does he have any hobbies? He may just need to do something focusing until his mind winds down. Don't be surprised if he's a night owl all his life, just find him things to do that don't keep the household awake.

find him something that he can do without adult supervision... if he won't sleep... then he can do this... i read a lot ( i had a flashlight hidden in my bed) because I only slept about 6 hours a night through the age you are speaking of... if it is loud (like a game), then get him headphones...

if he needs the sleep eventually his body will make him sleep... it may not be at the appropriate time... but communicating that he hasn't been sleeping to whomever needs to know will take care of that.....

write to vaccum manufactuers and see if you can get the manuals, or the engineering specs or something...

whatever you do... stop adjusting the time he wakes up... it will get him more used to the night time lateness... he will probably be a night owl like the earlier poster said... if he goes to sleep at 2 am then has to be up at 6:30 wake him up at 6:30 sooner or later it will tell his body that if you want sleep you are going to have to go to sleep earlier...

and the music/noise thing was a good idea... I've slept with the Tv on low for most of my life

oh and a sleep aid that doesn't have to be prescribed by a doctor... bananas, honey, and milk.... (i would say warmed up but he won't drink warm stuff) the combo between the three shuts people down.

One banana, a teaspoon of honey and a cup of milk, it is supposed to be a mashed banana and the honey mixed in all warmed up in the milk on the stove, but hey, adaptability can happen.

You mention melatonin, and wanting to buy something quickly, in the way of a sleep aid. There are a number of 'alternative' sleep aids, available in any good health food store. For example, Valerian, an herb, has been used for centuries for sleeplessness. Ask for insomnia remedies and they can suggest many others, singly or in combination, I'm sure. With nervous tension preventing sleep, encouraging slow, deep breathing could help him relax enough to permit sleep. Ross

I have Asperger's syndrome and schizophrenia. I can understand because when I am not on my antipsychotics, I sleep for 2 hours a night for weeks on end. Have you considered taking him to the doctor? It sounds pretty bad and he might need meds for it.

Thanks again, everyone! He does love music & certain kids' videos, maybe I'll play them lowly in the background 'til he falls asleep. (I'm not staying up all night rewinding & replaying them.). He's just starting to read, although he does enjoy vacuum & hairdryer manuals when we get new ones--will get ahold of some of those, also. Thanks again!

If you can burn the tapes to a Cd, then you can just push replay and it will repeat all night. Or put them on an MP3 player (same effect), then he can adjust the volume to whatever he's comfortable with.

if he has a nap time stop giving him naps, don't let him sleep in, get him up with the crack of dawn,
same thing with bed time, if you can get his own naturally internal clock ticking,
thats what I do with my child, but I let him take naps when he needs them,
but for the most part he is like me, when its light out he gets up,
when it gets dark out he gets nappy and ready for bed.

Tylenol Simply Sleep. It's just a low dose of benedryl, perfectly safe and non-habit forming.

start the wind down process early.....things in the house get gradually quieter, calmer..........try meditation, progressive muscle relaxation...

I am glad that you asked this because I am having exactly the same problem with my daughter. It's as if she wakes right up at 10 P.M. I tend to be a night owl, too, so I can understand why. The only reason I don't stay up all night and sleep all day is because I have kids that go to school.

Melatonin worked for us for a while, but now it has no effect. So last night I gave her an over-the-counter sleep aid. Benadryl does work great, but we took something else because benadryl triggers my seizures and I don't know if it does the same for her.

I put the TV on really quiet for me and both of my kids for the reason that someone mentioned, then we have something to process other than the constant monologue in our heads. It's a distraction.

My dd wants to talk, talk, talk at night. So finally last night I just gave her a new (for us) over-the-counter sleep aid. It said it wasn't for kids, but she's the size of a small adult, so I just broke it in half. I should call her neuro today.

Good luck with yours.

(I just noticed there's not a sleeping emoticon. There's one banging it's head against the wall, and there are smurfs, and all kind of things, but nothing sleepy....)