Sleep problems STILL!!

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Well tonight Damien was asleep around 10pm, far too late for a 5 year old!! !! He hasn't been sleeping well since December. Him being asleep at say 8pm is an early night!

What I have figured out so far tho:

He seems preoccupied with other peoples bedtimes.
He messes his room then has to clean it.
He simply doesn't seem or act tired even tho he yawns.
He has, well his toys have 'problems' like Dog might be barking and annoying brown teddy.

I just don't know what to do.
He has a good bedtime routine but is extremely hard to quieten down before bed, he is on the go the whole time. Well unless he is watching tv or eating. He is on NO meds at all apart from the odd OTC.
What can I do?? I am just at a loss.

What's OTC?
Melatonin solved our problems. No amount of structure, routine, meditation, camomille tea, hot milk, long baths or excercize helped!
A lot of ASD kids have problems with the hormones that make you sleep i.e. melatonin.

you know, it could just be normal kid stuff.....try to keep mom engaged as long as possible so that i don't have to go to sleep...

Different people need different amounts of sleep.


I know that when my mom made me got to bed a lot of the time I wasn't tired. I stayed awake for hours, and if I told my mother about that, she would just scold me for not falling asleep or trying to get to sleep. But I honest-to-goodness COULD NOT and I couldn't get it thru her head! She thought I was just being a brat but I wasn't trying to be stubborn at all! I did not find those things amusing! She would often stand outside my door too before she went to bed, to make sure I was totally quiet and once she imagined she heard whispering and told me off, but I hadn't made any sounds at all; my mouth was closed! She would tell me that I needed so many hours of sleep, but not everyone is the same, and anyway it wasn't like I didn't KNOW; it was a physical problem; you can't shame or talk someone into falling asleep if they just physically aren't tired!

Ask your son what he thinks about when he is trying to fall asleep.

Some Aspys have brains that run very fast, which makes it hard to settle at night.

Some things that have worked for me, and my boy.

o read an interesting book
o listen to talk radio
o listen to music.... with the volume low enough that it can be heard, but not bother anyone else.

The goal, is to get that racing mind, to focus on something to slow it down.
Sleep generally becomes possible after that.

I'd try soothing music. We used to have a "lullabye" CD and it always quietened down my AS child. Lately, I have found that if I threaten to send him to bed an hour earlier the next night, it usually works.

By the way, does he also have the "can't get out of bed in the morning" syndrome, especially with a late night? My son does, and he's not even close to being a teenager . . . arrgh!!

Hmmm, good luck! My parents gave up trying to fix my sleep problems. They seem to have gotten worse as I've gotten older. It's gotten to the point where on school nights I go to bed at 1:00 AM and on weekends/days off I go to bed at 3:00AM. Defenently not good sleep habits, hopefully your son won't end up as bad as I am with this.

Thanks and sorry I didn't clarify what OTC means.

I made him a Bedtime visual showing him what he can do once I say good night and leave. Tonight was better.

He has been battling an illness which I didn't know about (went to doctor today) and half his problem could have been because he couldn't breath properly but also couldn't verbalise that.
Tonight he went to sleep just after 9pm after 3 puffs of Ventolin (asthma medication).