I am not complaining but..........
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I am not complaining but..........
| Mon, 06-13-2005 - 1:52pm |
Maya just CAN NOT SLEEP. It wouldn't be so bad but, now that I am pg again things are getting a little crazy. I am DOG tired. BONE tired. She doesn't go to sleep untill about eleven or ( we start the whole process at eight pm sharp and, we have a very rigid schedule with, a picture board to help explain.)so. She wakes up five.. six.. seven times in the night and, is up before the sun. The doc gave her ATArax to take at night but, that just makes her hyperso does, benadryle. We don't know how to get some sleep. She is only 21 months so, I don't really know what else she can take please let me know if you have any ideas.
Wendy
Nate 3 yrs old
Maya 21 months
Emmabelle 5 months
New baby EDD Dec.2005
Wendy
Nate 3 yrs old
Maya 21 months
Emmabelle 5 months
New baby EDD Dec.2005

Check into melatonin and give that a try. It is a natural hormone in the brain that tells the brain to go to sleep. I give it to my guys and have since Dave was probably 3 or 4. It doesn't always keep them asleep but it is the least intrusive sleep inducer that I know of and there are studies of it's use with the AS population.
With a girl that small buy the 500mcg (or 1/2 mg) and cut it in half to start and see if that works. I know valerie had a heck of a time with her guy and sleep. She will have some good ideas too. He was around Maya's age when I remember her going through the med thing for sleep I believe. I don't think melatonin worked for him.
It works for most kids but not all. But I would try it as a first step.
There are other sensory things too that may help, but for some reason it is common for ASD kids brains to not do sleep real well.
Renee
Edited 4/1/2006 10:33 am ET by littleroses
((((((Wendy))))))
Poor you! I can remember how tired you must be. My DD didn't sleep through the night until she was 3.25. She woke 2-5 times each night. I worked full time and it was one of the worst periods of my life. I can remember crying at the thought of starting another day on no sleep.
What helped us was Occupational Therapy. WSe started a brushing program and that mostly did the trick. Some other things which helped us:
Keep the room DARK.
A heavy cotton blanket -not a "weighted" blanket, but one of those cotton ones, folded into four, seemed to help calm her.
Enclosing her in a "nest" of pillows stuffed animals, etc.
Rocking helped my DD to get back to sleep. I kept a glider in her room, and if she woke at night, I woudl rock with her for just a couple of minutes, and she would settle again. It made my life easier. It didn't stop her waking at night, but it meant each waking period only lasted a few minutes, not hours.
Sometimes a bed tent helps (IKEA has them).
I guess my best advice is to watch Maya for clues. If she is tired and *trying* to fall asleep, watch what she does to calm herself and see if it offers any clues as to what is going on. You can always come back here and run some of her behaviours by us. If it is a sensory thing, we might be able to interpret the action and give you some pointers.
I hope that helps a bit.
Good luck. You are not alone.
-Paula
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
Hi. I new around here and I have no idea what my 33 month old daughter's issues are officially. However, sleep has always been an unofficial one. So, I thought I'd share me experience because my approach is a little different than the other responders.
Sleeping through the night has always been an problem. She just doesn't seem to need as much sleep as, well, as me. We co-slept until she was 1 year and I just nursed her constantly (there were health reasons for that too). After that I moved her to a futon on the floor in her own room. I gradually removed myself, first after she fell asleep, and then before, until she could get through the night without me. She still doesn't actually fall asleep until 10 or 11 or 12, but she doesn't need me there. She will sit up for hours and 'read' (look at picture books and talk to herself), and wake up with the sun and play with her farm toy. I get to hear her babbling constantly, but my subconscious can tell the difference between a recap of "The Garden of Abdul Gasazi" and a stomache ache without really waking me up now. Besides, when she really needs something she rattles her door handle and asks me to come open it (She's on another floor so I have one of those child saftey things on the nob). Otherwise I let her do what she wants as long as its quiet and safe. She has to go to bed, but I know I can't force her to sleep.
I've been fortunate because she will sleep in the car, so I can squeeze naps in that way. I always bring paper work or a book with me when we run errands and if she falls asleep I park under a tree and have quiet time to get something done for me.
Hope this helps a little.
Mary
oh my, i sure do feel for you! i have had awful sleep issues for most of matt's 3 years of life. i remember being pregnant for his first year of life when he never slept for longer then 20 minutes.
anywho, i agree with renee to give the melatonin a try. it's pretty safe and i think it has helped in some ways. i still use it. for us, it wasn't a godsend, but it helps.
now, the bendaryl, i played around with the dose. first of all--i am not giving medical advice because i am no more then a peon myself. however, i would speak with our pharmacist and find out what i could increase. for instance, the liver can metabolize a certain amount of diphenhydramine a day. so even though the bottle would say 1 tsp max. i would give him a dose of 2tsp before bed. the body does develop a tolerance with dryl after a few weeks, so i would have to find something new. i also have used chlorphenirimine while giving dryl a break. it's hard to find that alone in a bottle, it's usually in a mix like cough and cold. so i asked the pharmacist and since it's over the counter, i could have him order is special for us. i hope i don't sound like i drug my child, but you get very desperate after months of poor sleep. no amount of power naps or respite seem to help enough.
then i also looked at everything sensory wise. i bought room darkening curtains. darkness is what clicks our sleep cycle into gear. i found that he had become very upset with his crib. so, at 22 months, i ditched the crib, bought a twin mattress and put it on the floor without anything beneath it. that did a few things--he really liked the openess, but it also allowed me to sleep next to him on really bad nights instead of getting up and down all night. go for a full size if you can--little guys take up a ton of room!! a weighted blanket has helped once he's a sleep. i would put it on him and i thought it made him think i was still there, as he would cuddle up to me to fall asleep.
matt is very music oriented. i have tried various music. for the longest time there was one that helped called heartbeat therapy which was nursery songs with a heartbeat in the background. most recently i have used Sacred Drums music. it sounds very...national geographic sounding, but the music seems to slow the hearbeat down to a resting rate. even when i listen to it i become very calm and fall asleep.
i know that's a ton of info, don't know if any pertains to your situation. but email me or reply and i will answer what i can.
valerie
We used melatonin for my son for a couple yrs. Then he started Theraputic Listening and sensory integration/physical therapy. Now he sleeps good without the melatonin.
For my daughter we used the dark, quiet room, heavy blankets and bed rails to make her feel secure.
Samantha
Tents and such. That does remind me, we did that with David for a couple years. He climbed out of his crib at 16 months and would constantly sleep under the crib or Mikes bed and not in the toddler bed. So we got a little tent, ditched the toddler bed and fill the tent with pillows and nice heavy blankies and he slept great in there. He still likes to be enclosed and has a small rail on his bed (it is a top bunk that has been de-bunked) and a weighted blanket.
Renee