erin Report post Posted January 4, 2011 This is my first time writing on any asd forum. I have two boys, Matthew is nearly 5 and Samuel is 7. Samuel has been referred for possible aspergers through his school after a lot of pushing on my part after knowing something was wrong since he was 2 1/2. Since then I have suffered from depression and anxiety and am at my wits end at the moment and need professional help which I know will be a long time coming. It has also come to my attention that my husband probably has aspergers as well which explains a lot of things! Anyway, I will not go on about my woe's, I know I am not alone here!! Which is nice to know as most people I talk to just don't understand and are very judgmental,(especially at parties and social gatherings)! Anyway, this year Samuel has stayed awake the entire night before his birthday and christmas day. He stays awake from about midnight onwards and constantly comes in to ask me whether it's time for his presents yet and can he go downstairs and wait until it is. The first time he did it on his birthday I persevered with putting him back to bed which ended up with both of us crying - and it did not work. This time I let him go downstairs and open his santa present and lye down with a blanket on the sofa on his own watching dvd's. This worked a little better but he did keep calling me to change his dvd, which his 4 year old brother can do with ease. But then he slept through most of christmas day and missed christmas dinner - which I have to say was the quietest dinner experience I have ever had! Even though it would of been nice if he could of been a part of it. I would be very interested to know whether anyone else goes through this before exiting events and has any solutions to it. I don't think I could cope with cooking another christmas dinner after 2 hrs sleep. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chloes mum Report post Posted January 4, 2011 We had a very similar thing with chloe this year - she is also 7 years old and has aspergers and ADHD. we managed to get her off to sleep on xmas eve no problem at all (but only because she's on Melatonin!!) But at 12.45am she was in our bedroom, wide awake with presents that she'd already opened!!!! I have to say we did our best but there was absolutely no persuading her to go back to bed and somehow she managed to stay wide awake for the whole of xmas day, and didn't go to sleep til 8.30pm. Not sure how she managed it - we were shattered!!! Not much help I know, but you are not alone!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
justine1 Report post Posted January 4, 2011 Hi Welcome to the forum <'> I have four boys th middle two have autism my Samuel is also 7 and Daniel is 4. Daniel has had trouble sleeping in the past, though not exclusively on special occassions, it was throughout the year for 2 1/2 yrs!! He went on melatonin in August, but came off it in September as he now lives with his dad,he sleeps fine there. Dont have any suggestions other than to say he won't get any presents if he wont sleep, as awful as it sounds it might just work! Also to keep things as "normal" as possible, maybe on these occassions everyone is talking alot about his birthday or christmas making him hyper.Sticking to the same bedtime routine and making sure he is in his room at all times is important.The thing with taking them to bed it is very hard but if you break and give in it means he knows he can continue doing it. I had the problem with Samuel when he was 2 and went into a bed, he would not stay in bed,it took two weeks of me putting him in bed every time, I too felt like crying and giving up but luckily I didnt and he has not had much trouble sleeping since then. The key is to stay strong and know he will eventually give up. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
smiley1590 Report post Posted January 5, 2011 maybe between excitement and also anxious stressful period of unusual holiday routine instead of everyday 'normal' routine to follow his body and mind find hard to adjust and settled calm down and relax before he goes to sleep. i also struggling to manage 'normal' sleep pattern too! XKLX Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sky Report post Posted January 5, 2011 hi i am new to this forum and have an autistic boy of 13 who has no problem getting to sleep xmas eve as he does noy recognise it at all! also disregards his toys until his usual morning routine has been completed! he did however used to have serious sleeping problems until melatonin which changed our lives in that we could get a good nights sleep.i know how it feels to have 2 hours sleep.he used to wake up at midnight and then his -and our-day would begin!hope it gets better for you Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
