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ASD and STTN - not happening - UPDATE
Last question for today, I promise. DS has ASD and encephalopathy.
He does not fall asleep by himself nor does he sleep through the night. He used to but then he moved to a regular bed I made a mistake of lying down with him. Once. That was it.
I takes me 2 hours to put him to sleep every night ( I lie next to him, we do not play, I am just there). We have a great routine, he is sufficiently tired, no TV before bed, etc. He gets a small snack before bed too. If I get up at night he hears me and wakes up too (sleeps in his own room); if he is up, he will be up for at least 3 hours.
Melatonin did not work for us, and I think his issue is more behavioral than medical, so I am not ready to go the medical route yet.
What do you guys do? How do you teach your kids to fall asleep on their own?
TIA!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: ASD and STTN - not happening - UPDATE
Hmm, my ds sleep issues were resolved when we started melatonin. So, my suggestions are not from experience, just trying to brainstorm here.
What does he do if you do not lay down with him? You may want to try the old fashioned supernanny approach, eventually fading yourself away from the bed and out of the room over a period of time. I know what works for my ds, is if I explain to him a change in routine, simply, he does much better adjusting.
Is he getting enough exercise during the day to wear him out? Does he still nap? Naps, before melatonin meant at least a 2 hour lead time before falling asleep, which was around 10/11 pm. No naps, before melatonin, was more like an hour/hour and a half.
Noise machines, my ds has had one for several years and it drowns out outside noise, so he isn't awaken as easily during the night or early in the morning when my dh and I are rising.
These are just thoughts. Good luck.
Don't hate me, but DS has always been a champion sleeper. DS is a rule boy so moving him out of the crib was a cinch. I say "stay in bed and go to sleep" and he stays in bed and goes to sleep. So take my advice with a grain of salt- some kids are just wired differently, as you know.
DS is typically in bed by 7pm and asleep by 7:30. But we allow TV in his room. I know, bad mom. But it really winds him down. We often read as well- but I do that before TV. Reading is stimulating to him and he'll want to engage with me and talk about the book. With TV he kinda zones out. Sometimes I time out a program so that it will end right when he should be going to sleep. That's the easiest way to get him to sleep- say "we're going to sleep when this is done" and then give multiple warnings. DS responds well to "couple minutes" then "one minute" then "last time. When I next come in, we're turning the TV off and going to sleep".
He has a noise machine and night light/lamp and sometimes when he whines when I put him down I'll turn the noise machine on and he gives up whining- it's his cue that like it or not, it's bedtime. The lamp we have is a rotating "scene" It relaxes him and he'll stare at it. Try the baby crack machine- we've been through 4 of these since DS was born. When he was younger I'd put him down for naps in a room with a ceiling fan and he'd fall asleep watching that.
If I do lay down with him, I remind him it's only for a couple minutes. If DS wakes in the middle of the night (we have gone through periods of him doing this several times a night- mostly pacifier related) he'll often cry and I'll end up laying down with him until he falls asleep- usually 10-15 minutes or so. On the rare occasion that he really doesn't want to go to sleep, I'll let him cry for a minute with his door shut. Then I'll go in and it's like he's so relieved that I'm still around that he'll give in and go to sleep. Actually, now that I mention the pacifier- this could be another big reason why he's such a good sleeper. He has a pretty strong oral fixation, and the pacifer is like a drug to him. He takes a few pulls when he gets in bed and it's like his eyes roll back in his head with pleasure, lol. Don't get me started on when we have to give that up.
I don't know if this is helpful to you, but wanted to share in case something clicks. Hopefully this is just a phase he's going through. DS has definitely gone through poor sleeping phases. They always seem to eventually pass. Good luck!
Thank you Skittles!
I sleep trained when DS was 12 mo. He did great and by night #3 he would happily fall asleep in his crib. But then he started climbing out at teh ripe age of 25 months and all hell broke loose.
I noticed no change with Melatonin as 4 hours after administering his dose he was still awake and happy. He is busy during the day (cognitively and physically) and he is tired.
He takes 1 hour nap and he falls asleep great for that one. And I really need that nap, as he is very cranky if he does not sleep.
I will try Melatonin again, maybe a different brand/manufacturer. What do you guys use?
Thank you so much again!!!!!!
MirandaHobbs - you rock. Our sleep problems got worse when we got rid of a pacifier AND moved to the regular bed. Oral stimilation - I did not even think about it!!!! Thank you!
Will try crack machine as well. He did not like it as a baby, but that was like 2.5 years ago!
Thank you so much!!!!!!!
Thank you for your great suggestions yesterday.
We worked on oral stimulation last night with a buzzing toothbrush for a while. Stuck to our routine. Tried the crack machine on 'rain' setting.
Result: fell asleep with me but in 40 minutes instead of 2 hours. Did not wake up untile morning.
Next steps: will try melatonin next and will work on fading myself at night.
Thanks for all your great suggestions again!