my daughter has autisum wakes up at all different hours in the night

Nigel - posted on 07/22/2012

I know this sites for moms but i am so in need of help this will be a long story as its hone on for 4 yrs..

Sep 2008 my wife gave birth to ruby with no probs.
3 months down the line she started screaming all day from 7am till 7pm
After a week we could not take it anymore so told the health visiter who told us shes busy we will have to deal with it.
Took her to docs who put her onto pediactric
When ruby started to lift her head of floor she would scream and smash her head
Reporting this still nothing was done.
She started sitting up but the moods got worse she would drop herself back onto the floor.
Ruby dtarted walking excited we was.
That was untill she started screaming and head butting walls.
As the years went on ruby got worse.
She

chokes the dogs
smashes house up
Is on the go all day
Wont eat plays with food
Always in our face poking and kicking us
Wants to watch same prog on tv over and over
She demands drink and if she dont get it breaks stuff
We go out to park she wont play she stands screaming and mosning.
She talks to her feet and always puts them in boxes
She fights to get dressed.
When she gos to nursery she stands there and wont talk to me but dos when at home..
We have been told its nothing and being told she dont have anything but we lnow she dos.has anyone seen any of above before.
Plus ruby dont feel pain when she head bangs wall.
She also sits talking to herself like a demon and flaps her hands now and then with her moth open...

Teresa - posted on 08/10/2011

I have 2 kids that don't sleep well. Unfortunately meds is our only option cause mine actually leave the house at 2am. My experience is that clonidine is very mild and works well but they develope tollerance over time so we have recently added trazadone. My youngest takes melatonin which is what I suggest starting with because over all it is believed to be the safest. If your child can deal with the taste passion flower extract works as well

Margaret - posted on 08/09/2011

We tried melatonin, clonodine, benadryl, trazodone, you name it, for our 7 year old. He is now 9. I found that the night waking comes and goes in stages. Sometimes he does it for months, sometimes months he sleeps all night. It can be exhausting for the parent and I really feel for you. What finally helped was Rx of Remeron (generic is Mirtazipine I think). A plus of the Remeron is that it helps anxiety. Also increases appetite, which is good for us because his ADHD meds decrease it. Anyway, just hang in there and find a DEVELOPMENTAL PEDIATRICIAN, hopefully one in your area has autism as a specialty. I found that our regular Pediatrician, who I adore, was just not equipped to handle all of our issues. Good luck!

Eileen - posted on 08/07/2011

Also Braydon has been taking melantonin 4 yrs without problems & falls asleep an hour after he takes it & sleeps 8 hrs sometime a little more at night, but he still gets up every once in a blue moon...

Eileen - posted on 08/07/2011

My 7 yr old autistic son was the same way now it happens once every few months or so. Ask your ped first, but Melantonin is great. It is a over the counter dissolvable pill sold in the vitamin section at walmart. It is completely naturual, it relaxes your pain. My whole has used it & it doesnt make you dizzie, or helpless feeling or make you sick feeling. I have tried sleeping meds 7 have been scared of the feeling of losing control so I wasnt putting my autistic son on it, then my dr told me abt melantonin. They more I researched & brought it up to friends, the more I learned how popular it is & safe. Everyone I know autistic or not use it to help their children sleep. Google it...I hope that helps

Rosie - posted on 08/05/2011

Hi, trust me i feel your pain, my daughter who is now 6 has only just started sleeping through with the help of medication....catapres which is a tablet that she takes everynight....she only started them in nov last year and she is doing well on them. I never thought I would have to make the decision to medicate her but I was in your situation as well....so people on this page may not agree with what i did but I have another child and I had to think of her well being as well....i ended up having to lock her in her room....(totally safe) and she was happy to stay in her room..if she was able to get out of her room.....she would try and get out of the front door and it ended up becoming a saftey issue.....I found her in the backyard one night at 4.00am in the morning....I never slept and I couldn't function....there has to be a point where you have to think of you as well....the medication has helped and there are still times where she does wake up but it is not so often...i hope I have helped in anyway.....good luck and don't rule out medication....my only regret now is i wish i had of medicated her earlier....good luck

Bobbi - posted on 07/13/2011

Well My 10 (almost) 11 year old daughter still doesn't sleep through the night and we have try the meds (natural and prescribed) with no help. She goes to sleep fine but starts waking up about 1am and keep waking up and going back to sleep from that point on. It was hard when she was younger but now that she is older she can get up and get herself back to sleep with no help. My advice is just hang in there the older they get the easier it is on you. My daughter also has to have a noise (fan) on to sleep.

Kaleigh - posted on 07/09/2011

My son needs the fan going in his room and the radio pplaying quietly in the hall, he also has a ritual type thing he does that makes him go to bed better but for keeping him asleep I'll be honest he still wakes up through the night. It used to be all night and him upset but with the fan going and the radio and a few choice toys in his room now even though he wakes up it isnt for long he just plays himself back to sleep. That works for us but every kiddo is different, I've heard that white noise helps for other autistic kids too though.

Missy - posted on 07/09/2011

Linda...

We have a 6 yo boy with autism that has struggled with sleep his entire life. We've tried many things, but we've found that natural remedies that work with his body have helped more so than prescribed medication. Don't get me wrong... both prescribed and natural remedies work, both have their pros and cons. Each child is so different and the most important thing is to find what works for your daughter. We use melatonin (3mg per night) and 5-HTP (Tryptophan) (400 mg per night). We started with 1mg of melatonin and 100 mg of the 5-HTP and titrated up by 50mg every week until we found the correct dosage. (We found that if he woke up groggy and struggled to wake, we reached the threshold and went down one level). He now sleeps through the night waking around 6am which is a gigantic improvement. We order our meds through our developmental pediatrician/DAN Dr but both products can be found at drugstores, vitamin outlets like GNC and on the internet. As a bonus, the 5-HTP has helped him self regulate, has decreased his anxiety, decreased transitional outbursts, and improved his need for sensory input.

Hope this helps...wish you the best of luck! The sleep thing is tough because it effects everyone in the house!

Take Care!
Missy Z

Chasity - posted on 07/08/2011

Our neurologist gave my 3 year old daughter clonidine for her insomnia. They say autistic kids suffer with insomnia. I crush it up and put it in her milk right before bed and she sleeps so well!

Karyn - posted on 07/07/2011

I actually made a mistake in telling you what my daughter takes to sleep. It's called Chloral Hydrate:)

Kylee - posted on 07/06/2011

Hi I have a daughter who is nearly 10 years of age and has autism, she is still not sleeping through the night and I have tryed all sorts of different medication and nothing has worked. The doctors have said to me that their is nothing else they can give her (medication) and that she will grow out of it when she is ready to or that it is just her body telling her that she has had enough sleep. When my daughter does wake up I have games, books, drawing things waiting for her, so that she does not wake up the rest of the house.

Carol - posted on 07/06/2011

Regulatory disorder, I was told, can go hand in hand with ASD. His body may be waking him up thinking it has had enough sleep. We used Trazadone (very small dose) because it helps keep the body asleep. Not getting enough sleep can cause all kinds of issues and make it so much harder for our kiddo's to do well.

Shaney - posted on 07/06/2011

My son used to wake up all hours of the night. I took him to a specialist to see what I could do. Since I don't like kids on alot of medication, he percribed a med called Risperdone. My son only takes it once a day, and slleps the whole night. He still gets up early but he is well rested and is a handful during the day. You even get sleep during the night. His performance during the day in school is better then is was. He takes the med 1 hour before he goes to bed.

Sarah - posted on 07/06/2011

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but my son just turned 9 and still does not sleep through the night!!!

Karyn - posted on 07/05/2011

My 2 year old is also in the process of Autism testing and can be awake from 2-7 hours a night. Our family Dr. prescribed Benadryl at first to help with the sleeping but that stopped working. She is now on Hydra-Chlorate at night to help her sleep. Without the sleep aid her behaviors during the day are huge and since she's has never been a great napper the lack of sleep wears on me as well. Hope this helps!

Lana - posted on 07/05/2011

at the moment i dont have a child in school but 2yo is in the process of autism testing and he wakes several times a night usually from about 11.30pm and for me i have found the only thing that will keep him in his bed after this is for either his father or myself to sleep on a mattress on the floor in his room. I was going to ask his peadatrician about this in a couple of weeks time when we see them. so sorry no real help from me but will keep you informed what the peadeatrician says