Bedtime help...PLEASE
Find a Conversation
Bedtime help...PLEASE
| Fri, 10-27-2006 - 8:18am |
DS (age 7) with NLD has been having some major anxiety at bedtime for at least 6 mos. now. He needs to be with me or DH and is very worried if one of us is not at home when he is trying to go to bed. We decided to let him "check" on us as long as he would go right back to his room. That works (kind of), but he is checking more and more and doesn't want to go back to bed. Our DD is upstairs, too, so it is not like he is completely alone (and we don't live in a mansion - we are literally right downstairs.)Last night I just didn't feel like a battle, so he fell asleep on the sofa while I watched some innocuous HGTV. He woke up again in the night, came into our room, and fell asleep on the floor since we said he could not sleep in our bed. Poor little guy! He was just evaluated by a Neurodev. Ped. When asked about his 3 wishes (and he could say anything he wanted), his first was to be able to fall asleep at night. So, of course, PROZAC is recommended. I want to cry every time I think about it. DH is convinced that is order to overcome anxiety one must understand that it is irrational and that it is impacting life. He thinks that DS is too young to understand this. I agree, but I really don't want to medicate him. Has anyone found any other solutions. Lack of sleep increases anxiety, so it is a vicious cycle. What is a Mom to do??

You are not alone. This topic is a regular one, and we have lot of ideas and suggestions here.
First question: What changed 6 months ago? Very often, if we see a sudden behavioral or pattern change, there is some event or stress that triggers it. If you can find the trigger, you are halfway there.
Here is an example of what I mean: When DD was about 4 her behavior changed significantly. Her
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
Ah Paula the font (or should I say waterfall) of knowledge.
DS (6) has had all sorts of sleep issues since birth, from not sleeping, to needing very little sleep, to not going to sleep, to waking multiple times etc.
Thanks for all of your advice. Our ped didn't think that melatonin would help, but a social worker did suggest it. Maybe we will give it a shot and see if it helps. DS does tend to get pretty wired (you know...the literal bouncing off the walls) before bedtime. I'll do anything to avoid meds, but I know it may be necessary. We are good about the bedtime routine, the nightlights, and informing DS of our schedule. He almost always stays asleep once he has gone down...unless he seems to be especially stressed. I'll let you know how it goes.
Ditto what others said about melatonin, we all take it and it does help us sleep. Anxiety ALWAYS is what is happening with our ds when he can't fall asleep quickly or wakes with nightmares, etc. These days with homeschooling, he is pretty relaxed, so we are not seeing any sleep issues.
For awhile when ds was younger, I pulled out the baby monitor when he was very, very anxious. I showed him how it worked and put the monitor next to his head and the receiver with us, and if he called out, one of us would come right away. This did eventually help him relax about the fact that we WERE home. He wishes often for a dog or younger brother so there would be someone sleeping in same room, but he can't have them. He does have quite a few stuffed animal sleep pals and his loft bed is also lined with large body pillows, so we echo the "nest" idea of Paula's.
Good luck to you. I sure do know hard it can be when noone is getting good sleep!
yours,
Sara
This happened with my son pre-dx when he was about 3.