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Sooze2

Can anyone tell me what time he will go to sleep?

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Yes, the prize is a delightfully handsome, blonde, angelic looking boy who can tell you all the cheats for every playstation game going and every detail about the latest cars. He's quiet, as long as his thumbs are busy and he's in front of the playstation. Free for postage - for one night only.

 

The best thing is that Ive just deleted a very long and important email instead of pressing send so I now have to type it again! :huh:

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O gawd sounds like my lad last week when it was his week off melatonin...n what is it with cheats my lad is the same lol. Hope he dropped off eventually. :thumbs:

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i'm beginning to realise how lucky my parents were. my obsession was a particular series of books, so as long as i had a torch i was happy in my room, and they slept through without even knowing i was up! of course now its different. i just walked into the wall on my way to the bathroom and woke everyone up :whistle:

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finally he is tired hooray, I can sleep :)

 

Poor Poor you, you must have been exhausted! What time did he get up this morning? At least it's the weekend I suppose!

 

I hope he sleeps well tonight.

 

>:D<<'>

 

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Poor Poor you, you must have been exhausted! What time did he get up this morning? At least it's the weekend I suppose!

 

I hope he sleeps well tonight.

 

>:D<<'>

Hi Sooze2

 

I'm getting used to it now, it's been going on for weeks and months and so long I can't remember proper sleep :lol:.

I try to get him up early, then he moans he is tired, I wonder why? :huh: if there is a sleep phobia he has it.

Anyway how is your Son getting on with his sleep?

Biker69

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Not to bad really, he's been asleep by 10pm this week - since his 3.30am stint on Sunday!

 

He takes Melatonin to make him sleep but it all went a bit wrong for a few weeks because he's now also on Concerta for ADHD which can cause sleep problems - or will in his case. He's seems to have settled down again now for the moment thought - thank goodness!

 

Could you see if yor son could have some help with his sleep? Has he always been a night owl? My boy has always had sleep problems - since birth really.

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Hi Sooze2

glad to hear your sons sleep habits are better. Thats typical the medication helps with one thing and causes problems with the other.

Our son has been a problem sleeper since birth but lately it has got so much worse. He says he is afraid to sleep in case he doesnt wake up:.

We did try melatonin but he has a fear of taking medication so that put a stop to that . And we have been to CAHMS but they haven't been very helpful. So I guess I will keep a stock of matches to keep my eyes open :lol:

Biker69

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Oh I know all about the getting to sleep problem!! And the staying asleep one even more!!!! me and dh spent 8 months of my son having night terrors. When they finished my dd went through nearly a year of waking in the night - every hour - for no reason. The it all stopped. No reason why, no ideas either..

 

I remember one Christmas time my son bouncing on his bed with a santa hat on at 3 in the morning . I also remember weeping on the stairs - the tiredness, stress , all getting too much :( Melatonin has been brilliant.

 

I think melatonin can be prescribed as a syrup???? Maybe you should check it out with the dr. Failing that bach remedies do a night / sleep spray- maybe worth a try....

 

Im sorry not to give much more advice.. that horrendous broken sleep is enough to send most people completely demented.... Keep your chin up because it does get better.

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Hi Sandyn

sounds like you know where we are at. I know about the sitting on the stairs in tears too :tearful: .

Glad to hear that you have got through the sleepless times in one piece.

I would try the syrup melatonin but I know he wouldn't take it. The other thing that makes the sleepless nights bad is that he gets so aggressive and loud, which isn't so good when you're stuck between two neighbours, dread to think what they are thinking :unsure:.

Anyway thanks for the reply, it helps to know others understand where we are at :)

Biker69

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I take it you can't convince him to do something quiet and restful in his room, and stay in his room, whilst you get some rest?

 

I guess that's too obvious to have been overlooked, but .....

 

When I was pregnant I just had to have an afternoon nap in order to be safe and able to function until hubby got home from work, or even to be able to stagger around the afternoon dogwalk and cope with my very intense then 3 year old.

 

I found that I could park him in front of a DVD and he would be rooted to the sofa for the duration of it ....

Not ideal but he does seem to find it a good way of 'zoning out' 'chilling out' whatever the term was.

There were some days when I encouraged him towards a 76 minute one (We have three - and I know exactly which ones! LOL!)

 

I don't think it has done him any harm and I am inclined to keep a siesta time running, especially once his brother is old enough to timetable a bit. Whether it is reading, or mild (not too stimulating) tv or jigsaw puzzles or some other obsession .... perhaps there are some activities that your son would be able to do, safely, on his own so that you can get the rest you need in order to be able to cope?

 

Hope that helps, and isn't teaching grandma to suck eggs ...

Helen

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I went through this at day one, mine rarely does more than 5 hours any night, when I first realized, I used to stay awake trying to get him to sleep, but he's outlast me, in the end I stopped worrying about it, after ensuring there was no danger or damage he could cause when we slept, now we just accept he doesn't need to sleep as much as other children, and it is fine. most of the problem is US, not the autistic child, we tend to want them the same as other children, of course it is not going to happen ! Put it this way if you try to keep up with them you will crack first and get exhausted. I found letting him have a TV set on all night with the volume off worked pretty well ! Now I can turn it off when we go to bed and he sleeps OK, albeit 5 hours tops. Hasn't affected his energy level a bit, and he still sleeps more than Margaret Thatcher did (She used to do 4 hours a night). !

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must be something in the water at the moment. i've been sleeping really well (admittedly i've been very ill, so that might've helped). i'm asleep by midnight, and dont wake up til 6am... bliss!!

 

i second the training to stay quiet in the bedroom. its what i did when i was a child. i just read books, but these days a tv with headphones would work well too i suppose. i was safe, and not bored, so not likely to wander, and my parents could sleep which was a benefit all round in the day!

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I suspect my son has hypercausis, I know my father had it. Son of is extremely, annoyed with any sort of noise, and when we moved home a while back caused huge problems in banging on windows and wandering about the house all night. We initially thought it was a change of surroundings, it was partly that but mostly he could hear traffic from a busy road all the time, which we didn't in the old house. we had put him at the front of the house in the biggest room, we had to move him to the back of the house where it was less likely he would hear traffic so much and it worked. I used to be amazed that he could hear his taxi coming to take him to school, long before he could see it, he not only would hear it coming from inside the house, but apprently could identify the transport was his, I can only assume he can hear and identify it by the engine sound ! At our old house he would also shout and bang on his bedroom windows at all hours, we discovered he was angry because a neighbour had just had a new baby, and he could hear it crying, he was shouting at 4 am for it to shut up ! He also annoyed a next door neighbour who did early shift work, again he could hear the neighbour whistling (!) and starting his car, he'd get very angry with him too and tell him to shut up as well... took a lot of diplomacy, if we ever move again w have to ensure there is minimal noise distractions, quite difficult these days. Our TV is also turned down very very low... vistors can hardly hear it...!

Edited by MelowMeldrew

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Hi Biker....I used to crush P's melatonin and mix it into a tub of fromage frais. It had no taste (unlike the syrup) and he never spotted it!!! Hope that helps.

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There was a heated response on one site for using melatonin at all. I don't agree with it personally, it seems drugging the children to docility to me, albeit there are many other parents at wits end, who say it has worked miracles in calming situations. I wonder how parents feel about this ? I'm of the pursasion things happen for a reason and don't come out of nowhere and cannot be otherwise addressed, although I well understand options toaddress issues, are not given us. How many cases of children being given melatonin (My GP was angry anyone could suggest giving it to a child and refuses to dispense it incidentally), could have been better sorted out by finding the reasons for outbursts and then addressing them ? Is therapy better than pills ? I am loathe to go the way of the Americans that offer all sorts of pills and potions to make life easier, by rebdering our chilren almost comatose...

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Melatonin is a hormone which autistic people often underproduce. Would you feel the same about giving insulin to a diabetic, or thyroxine to someone with an underactive thyroid?????

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I am just going on what my feelings dictate, and it was supported by our own doctor's advice not to prescribe melatonin for autistics. Others must make their own decision, and obviously Dr's vary in advice as well. I wasn't suggesting those that use it, were taking an easy way out....I was brought up to refuse aspirins for an headache myself ! It's just something that has stayed with me, I think there are too many pharmaceutical 'answers', when often they aren't necessary, I'd just feel guilty I was going with it just to make my life easier, and worry I was suppressing. I'm not sure where you got the information melatonin can 'cure' autistic behaviours ? I thought nobody KNOWS what causes most autisms ? Once you start using this 'melatonin' do you have to keep using it ? for how long ? life ?

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Hello everyone

thanks to all the replies and advice, much appreciated. Sorry sooze looks like i nicked your post :oops:

Well there's still not much sleep going on here, we have even tried making our own lavender and hops pillows after watching BBC's 'Grow your own drugs' program, that hasn't worked but it did give us something to do!

 

A few people have mentioned melatonin which we did try for a little while before but has I said my son has a fear of taking medication and doesn't like taking anything, and some might say this is silly but with him being scared of taking anything I would feel like I was betraying his trust to put it in his food or drink without him knowing, thats just me :wacko:.

We would be quite happy for him to stay awake watching dvds or playing on his playstation until he was tired but I'm afraid he won't even stay in his room alone when we are awake so definate no go if we were asleep.

 

So I guess we will keep going until a miracle occurs and he decides that it would be good to stop living like bats :whistle:!!

Thanks again for replies

Biker69 :)

 

 

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Well, I've been a fellow night owl for quite some time, but its my youngest what has taken the biscuit over the past three nights!

He has a dreadful cough that could wake the dead (but not, strangely, my OH!!! :huh: ) and it is at its most prolific, handily enough, between the hours of 12 and 4am!!!!

And just to cap the injustice off, indeed to add a plump cherry on the top of it, my son sleeps through most of it!!!!! :rolleyes:

My god, I can't normally claim to have wonderfully smooth lower eyelids, but I would put a bloodhound to shame these days!

We visit the doctor tomorrow, thank goodness, but if he dares intone the fateful phrase,

'I think it's just a virus....', I may well put his stethoscope to new and interesting uses!!!

(Joke!!.....I think!)

 

 

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