the witching hour

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Anybody else have a AS child that goes absolutely crazy at night?

My gf's son goes starts to "hype out" starting around 10PM. It's like a Dr Jekle/Mr Hyde type of transformation. Running around the house, spinning in circles, jumping on furniture, throwing things, etc. His behavior and attitude change as well, he starts arguing with us, talking back... almost to a point of temper tantrums.

He's 10 years old

I have no kids but I'm quite similar, at night I feel full of energy, no desire to go to to sleep, just wanting to play videogames or research stuff endlessly, like an infinite burst of energy accompanied by a feeling of happiness.

What is his medication schedule?

The only med he takes every day is his alergy medicine, and he takes it in the morning.

Ditto the question about the schedule for any meds he may be on? As well as, does he have a regular sleep schedule? Is he consuming any caffeine during the day? How much sugar, food dyes, preservatives etc. are in his diet?

Some kids seem to get "hyper" when they are overtired/overstimulated (my sons included). Maybe he needs a more restful evening routine.

Have you looked into circadian rhythms? It's usually about teenagers, but maybe a younger kid can have an odd schedule. http://www.consultpivotal.com/adolescent_sleep.htm

You might look into full-spectrum lighting, or think about scheduling different kinds of light at different times of the day. Or, like Alice said, think about the schedule for food, activities, stimulants.

Ours is right after dinner. And the NT one does it as well. We just try to keep them from being injured or breaking anything and accept that this is energy they need to release. Ours don't tend to get into tantrums, however ... is this immediately before bed time that he is doing this? That is when the body starts fighting itself over the issue of sleep, and perhaps that is part of the problem. Maybe encourage him to release energy EARLIER so that it can be done in a less emotionally conflicted fashion?

He is on a regular sleep schedule, but it gets relaxed a bit on the weekends.

Normally, it's in bed at 9pm. No TV, computer or video games, but he is allowed to read a book. Lights out at 10pm.

He eats really well. He would much rather have a piece of fruit than a piece of candy.

Not really much in the way of caffeine either. Mostly drinks milk or water, although he will have the occasional glass of ice tea, or soda, but never after dinner.

It just seems that this is his reaction to being over tired.

I have a 10 year old daughter with AS. I can definitely say that we experience a "difficult" hour(s) in the daytime. Usually just after school until dinner time (4 - 6pm). I'm sure this has to do with unwinding from her very stressful day at school.

That said, I wonder if part of the problem you're experiencing comes from the extremely late bedtime for your gf's kiddo. My 10 year old goes to bed at 8pm. I personally believe 10pm is WAY too late for a child to be up. He may be experiencing a bit of over-tiredness. Even a NT kid can get hyper active etc., when overtired.

Why not try developing an earlier bedtime routine... slowly.... I'm sure you'll find it helps.

Hi AllieTheGreat, and welcome to WP. We definitely experience that difficult time after school too. Between about 4-5 we just let our guys retreat and do their own thing quietly. School is so exhausting for them.

My guys just turned 9, and they go to bed at 9:00pm to read and lights out by 9:30 (on weekends we make it 10:00). We used to have an earlier bedtime, but my guys were just lying there for an extra hour or more, not getting to sleep any earlier and still waking up at the crack of dawn. Some kids don't need an early bedtime at this age. But that would depend on whether or not he has an easy time waking up in the morning/seems to lag throughout the day? If so, yup, more sleep.

Our household can still get pretty whacky once we've gotten our second wind, my kids are 19 and 20 and unfortunately none of us are good about regulating or own sleep schedules, but I have to admit it was easier when they were younger, we managed to get them to bed by 9pm, like I said once went past that point they would get their 'second wind' and be bouncing off the walls, and winding them down would take a couple more hours. On weekends their schedule would remain the same unless we were out somewhere, it was just easier for all that way. But now, trying to get any of us to bed somedays is difficult

Thank you for the welcome I have been a lurker on this board for a long time... just waiting for the appropriate moment to jump in & begin posting!

I understand that choosing a child's bedtime is a pretty personal choice. I certainly agree that different children require different amounts of sleep time as well. It isn't my intention to offend anyone with my comments!

That said, I know that the recommended sleep time for children aged 6-10 is 10 hours of sleep a night. I also know that many kids aren't coming anywhere close to that. With parents who have 75 years teaching experience between them, I've heard all about incredibly tired children who are going to bed way too late at night.

It IS obviously up to parents to judge the exact amount of rest their child needs to see that they are getting sufficient sleep. In fact, my 8 year old NT child requires much more than 10 hours of sleep a night.

Whether the child is in bed & actually sleeping isn't really the entire issue though. It's really great for kids to be able to have some quiet "downtime". It's important to consider that private time alone in their rooms, resting can be just as healthy & beneficial as actual sleep.

I think it's well known that lack of sleep for kids can cause irritable or hyper types of behavior and can also make a condition like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) worse.

While I feel strongly that today's children are completely over-scheduled and up way too late (even just having quiet personal time in the evening for the PARENTS is important!) I agree that it is a parent's personal choice. My suggestion to the OP would be to consider making bedtime a little earlier to avoid the meltdown or hyperactivity that seems to occur so late at night.

Prior to moving in with me, he had no bedtime, even on school nights. I couldn't believe it!

It was a compromise to get him into bed at 9, lights out at 10. At first it didn't go over so well, and he could not sleep at all.

Generally the problem doesn't occur during the week when he is in bed by 9, it is on the weekends when he is allowed to stay up a little later.

I think you just figured it out. He needs the same bedtime on weekends too.

And @ AllieTG, definitely no offence taken. It is sound advice, just wanted to point out the other side of it. Some AS kids require less sleep than the average kid, and after years of forcing our two to bed at the recommended time for their age, and having them up for hours alone in their room and still waking us up before dawn "raring and ready to go", we finally got it through our heads that we needed to respond to their particular needs by letting them stay up a little later.