Sleeping Habits Of An Autistic Child (kind of long)

When you have a child on the spectrum often times you wonder if other parents are dealing with some of the same issues that you are.
Sammy use to have weird sleeping habits.  He always went down fairly easy but keeping him asleep all night was another issue.

Often times he would wake in the night and watch TV (turning off TV's was another NO NO in this house and was something that caused MAJOR anxiety and panic).  Other times he would wake up and have horrible tantrums.  
 I distinctly remember one night in particular when he woke up at 1am and went into meltdown mode because we were all sleeping and he didn't want to.  He became lost in that unreachable zone and shut down.  You can read about shutting down HERE.
That particular night he tore his favorite poster off the wall and ripped it to shreds and then proceeded to throw 2 50 States puzzles across the room scattering the pieces.  He then threw his bucket of 300+ plastic numbers and letters across the room as well.
You can imagine how much fun that was at 1am and he did not go back to sleep until 8pm that night which meant he was awake for 19 hours straight.   

  I thought if we could just get his sleep pattern regulated.  We kept the same routine every night,  the same bed time and we never knew from one night to the next if Sammy was going to sleep all night or if he would wake up and want to stay up.
Many nights he would wake up around 2am and stay awake until it was time to go to bed that night.  He would go 16-19 hours straight having had no sleep.  He stopped napping once he turned a year old so you can only imagine our exhaustion.  
We tried everything imaginable that didn't involve medicating to help him sleep and nothing would work.   Then it seemed on the nights that he would be sleeping peacefully he would wake up with leg aches.  He had growing pains from 18m-4years which was really painful for him.  


Sammy had come down with a bad cold and the doctor prescribed him cold meds to help him.  Of course the medication made him sleepy but it was a natural kind of sleepy and he rested well and slept all night.  It even got to the point to where he would allow us to turn off the TV's and wouldn't get anxiety ridden over it.


Once the cold was gone and the medicine was out of his system he went back to his quirky sleeping habits.   During this time I was pregnant and was extremely fatigued and it was all starting to take it's toll me and my husband.


I started doing research and found that irrational sleep patterns was very common among children on the spectrum.  I talked to our ped and he suggested that when Sammy started waking up to give him a dose of the cold medicine.  He said he wasn't opposed to that if it helped Sammy sleep and the benefits far out weighed the risks.  The lack of sleep on top of his Autism was causing him to act out and he was hard to control and handle at that point.
I didn't like the idea of giving him medicine that he didn't need just to help him sleep.  
Finally after months of researching I discovered Melatonin.  After talking to the doctor he said that Melatonin was fine to give him to get his body back into a normal sleeping pattern.   Our bodies produce Melatonin anyway and sometimes children on the spectrum just don't produce enough causing the irrational sleep patterns.  I like that fact that it is a natural drug and doesn't cause dependency.
We found the dosage that worked for Sammy and after a week and a half of using it we noticed a HUGE overall improvement.   He was sleeping more soundly which greatly improved his overall mood and demeanor.  It got his body back on track which was wonderful for all of us.  We were all finally getting some much deserved and much needed sleep.

We don't use it quite as often anymore unless we notice he's having trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep.  It really is a wonderful thing for children who have sleeping issues.  I don't recommend using it on your child until you've discussed it with your doctor but it is a much better and safer alternative than using cold medicines or Benadryl unnecessarily.
Sammy has a little boy in his class who is also on the spectrum.  His parents live in our neighborhood and we've become friends with them.  One afternoon the little boys dad came over and we were discussing our children and he was telling us that his son doesn't sleep.   He will fall asleep around 10pm and sleep in their bed but doesn't sleep soundly and is often times restless and easily awakened by little noises.  He commented about how they haven't had a full nights sleep since their son was born and they were just worn out after 5 years of it.  I told him about Melatonin and how it helped Sammy.  That night he went and bought a bottle for his son.

Several days later his wife came up to me and thanked me for telling them about Melatonin.  Their son was sleeping through the night peacefully and going to bed at a decent hour. 


I know some people are opposed to giving their child anything to help them sleep because they think it's wrong to, "medicate" their child.   That's fine and that's their opinion,  but when you have a child on the spectrum or any child who desperately needs sleep and isn't getting it then you should do everything in your power to help them.  When your child doesn't get the rest that he or she needs then it affects them and everyone around them negatively.  The pros definitely out weigh the cons and it's not addictive like other sleeping alternatives.  It's been roughly a year and a half since we discovered melatonin and not once since then have we had middle of the night meltdowns and rarely does he wake up in the night.  He sleeps more soundly and doesn't wake up feeling groggy or weird.  You have to figure out what dosage works for your child (2mg is what we give Sammy).  We gave it to Sammy every night for a week and a half and that's all it took to get his sleep cycle regulated.  As of now we only give it to him occasions when we see a change in his sleeping pattern.
If you have a child on the spectrum or a special needs child with a sleep disorder then I definitely recommend that you talk to your doctor about Melatonin and how it can help your child.