Sleep Issues and Autism: Resources and Information
Friday January 25, 2008
If you think children with autism sleep less than their typical peers, you're right! That's why I've put together a collection of articles and resources for parents coping with autism and sleeplessness:
If you have a child with problems sleeping, you may have developed some techniques that work well for you. If so - please share!
Comments
My son has always had sleep issues since the day he was born. At first, I thought it was a new born thing, then I thought he wasn’t getting enough food so I started cereal early. Then I new I was doomed! My son slept 2 hours per 24 hour day, and it seemed it has to do something with the sun going down. Day light savings also affects his sleep patterns.
One thing I did not see listed was a Sleep Study. Before considering options like medications, a consideration should be a Sleep Study- you just never know what might be found. What I found was a disorder of sleep onset and sustained sleep. This means my son can ignore the need for sleep as he does pain, and he also cant sustain all night sleep and that’s with medications.
Routine is very important to this sleep issue, if one ever hopes to gain any amount of sleep. I made visuals to help my son ’see’ the difference between day time and night time, and what can and can not be done. When a child is younger, any altering of that sleep routine would throw my kid off way more than he already was. Bed time had to start when a certain show was on, and visiting people during holidays, forget getting any sleep and ruining anything you had achieved, just to start all over again.
I tried so many things prior to meds- the list is a mile long. A bath before bed never worked for my kid, waters stims him. I tried no clothes, tight clothes, nothing in his room, lights on, totally dark, white sounds (not recommended for those with sensory issues to sounds and don’t make my mistake of not testing it prior to bed time!) a weighted blanket (didn’t help for sleep but it did for the all night crying in his sleep) one time he slept all most the whole night and we had pizza for supper- so we ate lots of pizza. Made no difference and that was a fluke night. Got a trampoline and he jumped the whole day and pulled a leg muscle- no sleep still.
Sometimes medications are needed however, Melatonin is a hormone and there is side effects with long term use with boys- their testicles although still functional, are abnormally tiny. In other countries it is banned while here in the USA, it’s still sold over the counter. Also, many doctors do not test levels prior to suggestion Melatonin. There is also no real reporting or data collected on it’s use with children.
There are many non evasive RX choices, some which wont store within the body.
Any who are going through this, I feel your night owl’ing
We are now pursuing an EEG for my son to see if he is having seizures while he sleeps. He used to be up at night at all hours, but since medications he does sleep more through the night, but still often acts very sleepy and is difficult to wake up even after a 10 or 11-hour night. I’m told 30% or more of children with autism do have seizures, and we also wonder if he’s having “absence” seizures during the day. What does this have to do with sleep? The neurologist we consulted with who will be doing the EEG said that she has treated children who were on the spectrum or who had autistic-like behaviors whose sleep patterns were not right, so they were basically walking around in a constant state of sleep deprivation, which affects everything: mental state, learning, behavior.
My son had many tests and has no seizures during sleep or otherwise however many children autism or not do have seizures during sleep. I’m not sure the seizures have anything to do with lack of sleep or a sleep issue. Kids with autism can have seizure activity and have no sleep issues at all or be like my son who never sleeps and has no seizures. My son is sleep deprivation, but it seems not to effect him as it sure does me! He seems to truly ignore the need for sleep, his body seems not to tell him he’s tired and interestingly, my son rarely yawns either.
If your child while on medication after 10 to 11 hours of sleep is still groggy and hard to wake up, they may need to adjust those medications.
Does anyone have any experience with excessive yawning, could they be ? atypical seizures, reaction to stress? Our 9 y/o hi-functioning autistic son has recently shown a significant increase in yawning throughout the day. Our experience in the medical community has been awful! We live in the mid-west so awareness is a bit lacking.