My heart goes out to you, your son and your whole family. My dd used to have trouble with waking up multiple times at night. From birth to about 2 yrs old, she would have several weeks in a row where she would wake up screaming. And then she would have several weeks where she sleep just fine. Then the whole cyle would start all over again. She didn't say her first word until she was 2.5, so she could never tell us what was wrong. I don't know if this will help, but the one thing that calmed her down was soothing music. She didn't want to be held, so we would turn on a cd of indian flute music. She doesn't need the music to sleep anymore, but it certainly helped her many times. Right now she will occasionally become irrational at bedtime, worrying about things that don't make sense. She cried a few nights ago at bedtime and kept saying "no Ma-ma bath". I don't know why she was worried about me taking a bath, but it was a real fear to her. This happened two nights in a row, and then stopped. Luckily, she calmed down after about 15 minutes or so. We just let her cry it out. But, that is so hard to do. She isn't afraid of colors, but oddly enough is obsessed with them. She used to be obsessed with lights and now she talks about colors a lot. It's like she judges the world through colors and they are very important to her. I wish you the best of luck in getting your son over his fear of colors. I wish I had better advice for you.
Amy~mom to Natalie (9 yrs.) and Lily (3 yrs., hypotonia, PDD-NOS, neuropathy, 2 hair shaft defects, reflux controlled with med.)
Nathan was always a great sleeper too when he was younger. Just this past year is when he started having problems falling asleep. I started giving him melatonin off and on...only when he seemed to need it. But since the holidays started, he's been taking it every night.
He doesn't usually wake up in the middle of the night though, although he has a couple of times (when he hasn't taken the melatonin). He gets scared too, but as long as we follow routine, he does fine. It scares him, if we open the curtain and look out into the dark. Sometimes he gets scared of pictures, shadows, and even his toys. Some of his toys are "turned around" so he can't see their faces. So we make sure we don't do anything that will make him frightened, and we let him "arrange" his room so that he feels comfortable after we leave him alone. He says his mind won't stop "thinking". He does "think" alot about a million things at once!!! lol And he obsesses about things, so this doesn't help either.
I have found the melatonin to work well for him. He doesn't like taking medicine, but this is one thing he "asks for" at bedtime. For Nathan, I think getting older and becoming more aware of things has changed how he thinks and what he thinks about. If he hears a noise at night, he will call out to find out what it is....he never did this before...really didn't seem to care before.
Not sure if I said anything that helps. But hope you find something that works for Jack.
Fran, Jake went through the very same stage. He was a really great sleeper for the longest time but then after an ear infection and cold he started to wake up in the night. We have a gate at the top of the stairs and he usually comes into our room and gets in bed with us, not every night but at least once a week. He started telling me there were reindeers in his room then monsters, the list continues to this day. I think it originally started with a nightmare and when he saw he could have me up in the middle of the night with him, it just continued. I wouldn't be freaked out about the colors thing because my sister's NT kid who is 3yrs old tells her constantly that there is a little boy in her room or else(the scariest one of all) a HAND in her room! Teresa
I used to see colours in my room late at night. They terrified me. They would be on the wall, and then gently move toward me, and when I tried to look at them, they would dart away, only to creep back into my field of vision from a slightly different angle. I was terrified they would "get" me, but they never did. Sometime I could still see them with my eyes closed.
I used to call my parents, nanny, sisters to see the colours and to tell them to go away, but they could never see them. Even when I pointed RIGHT at them, no-one else could see them. They would say "go away" to humor me, but the colours wouldn't go. They thought I was lying or imagining things. It was VERY frustrating and scary.
I was seeing 'floaters'. Ya know, little opaque flecks that are in the fluid inside your eyeballs? Now, I don't know if explaining all this to Jack will help or make things worse ("what do you mean the colors are in my eyeballs???!!!), but some things which may help:
Increase any sensory therapy. Floaters for me, are part of my sesnory integration dysfunction, and get worse when it is triggered.
Try to find out the real source of his stress and address it. If SID is triggered, it is usually because of stress. Stress by itself can cause sleeplessness and wakefulness.
Keep the room very dark. You can't see floaters if there is no light.
I have floaters too, but didn't get them until adulthood. Paula's post also got me thinking, could Jack be having migraines? When I used to have those, I "saw colors" and they would block my field of vision. It was scary. But Jack would probably have other symptoms too, like pain or nasuea. Darkness helped me with migraines too. I had them in my 20's and found they were caused by poor diet, stress, and made worse by caffien and sugar. Now that I eat better, I rarely have them. Still have the floaters though.
Our poor little guys get stuck with these things so early.
Increasing sensory therapy is probably a good idea. I know Jack doesn't eat much sugar normally or caffein at all, but could he have had extra sugar over the holiday? Just a thought.
My heart goes out to you, your son and your whole family. My dd used to have trouble with waking up multiple times at night. From birth to about 2 yrs old, she would have several weeks in a row where she would wake up screaming. And then she would have several weeks where she sleep just fine. Then the whole cyle would start all over again. She didn't say her first word until she was 2.5, so she could never tell us what was wrong. I don't know if this will help, but the one thing that calmed her down was soothing music. She didn't want to be held, so we would turn on a cd of indian flute music. She doesn't need the music to sleep anymore, but it certainly helped her many times. Right now she will occasionally become irrational at bedtime, worrying about things that don't make sense. She cried a few nights ago at bedtime and kept saying "no Ma-ma bath". I don't know why she was worried about me taking a bath, but it was a real fear to her. This happened two nights in a row, and then stopped. Luckily, she calmed down after about 15 minutes or so. We just let her cry it out. But, that is so hard to do. She isn't afraid of colors, but oddly enough is obsessed with them. She used to be obsessed with lights and now she talks about colors a lot. It's like she judges the world through colors and they are very important to her. I wish you the best of luck in getting your son over his fear of colors. I wish I had better advice for you.
Amy~mom to Natalie (9 yrs.) and Lily (3 yrs., hypotonia, PDD-NOS, neuropathy, 2 hair shaft defects, reflux controlled with med.)
Fran,
Nathan was always a great sleeper too when he was younger. Just this past year is when he started having problems falling asleep. I started giving him melatonin off and on...only when he seemed to need it. But since the holidays started, he's been taking it every night.
He doesn't usually wake up in the middle of the night though, although he has a couple of times (when he hasn't taken the melatonin). He gets scared too, but as long as we follow routine, he does fine. It scares him, if we open the curtain and look out into the dark. Sometimes he gets scared of pictures, shadows, and even his toys. Some of his toys are "turned around" so he can't see their faces. So we make sure we don't do anything that will make him frightened, and we let him "arrange" his room so that he feels comfortable after we leave him alone. He says his mind won't stop "thinking". He does "think" alot about a million things at once!!! lol And he obsesses about things, so this doesn't help either.
I have found the melatonin to work well for him. He doesn't like taking medicine, but this is one thing he "asks for" at bedtime. For Nathan, I think getting older and becoming more aware of things has changed how he thinks and what he thinks about. If he hears a noise at night, he will call out to find out what it is....he never did this before...really didn't seem to care before.
Not sure if I said anything that helps. But hope you find something that works for Jack.
michelle
Jake went through the very same stage. He was a really great sleeper for the longest time but then after an ear infection and cold he started to wake up in the night. We have a gate at the top of the stairs and he usually comes into our room and gets in bed with us, not every night but at least once a week. He started telling me there were reindeers in his room then monsters, the list continues to this day. I think it originally started with a nightmare and when he saw he could have me up in the middle of the night with him, it just continued. I wouldn't be freaked out about the colors thing because my sister's NT kid who is 3yrs old tells her constantly that there is a little boy in her room or else(the scariest one of all) a HAND in her room!
Teresa
I used to see colours in my room late at night. They terrified me. They would be on the wall, and then gently move toward me, and when I tried to look at them, they would dart away, only to creep back into my field of vision from a slightly different angle. I was terrified they would "get" me, but they never did. Sometime I could still see them with my eyes closed.
I used to call my parents, nanny, sisters to see the colours and to tell them to go away, but they could never see them. Even when I pointed RIGHT at them, no-one else could see them. They would say "go away" to humor me, but the colours wouldn't go. They thought I was lying or imagining things. It was VERY frustrating and scary.
I was seeing 'floaters'. Ya know, little opaque flecks that are in the fluid inside your eyeballs? Now, I don't know if explaining all this to Jack will help or make things worse ("what do you mean the colors are in my eyeballs???!!!), but some things which may help:
Increase any sensory therapy. Floaters for me, are part of my sesnory integration dysfunction, and get worse when it is triggered.
Try to find out the real source of his stress and address it. If SID is triggered, it is usually because of stress. Stress by itself can cause sleeplessness and wakefulness.
Keep the room very dark. You can't see floaters if there is no light.
HTH
good luck.
-Paula
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
Fran,
I have floaters too, but didn't get them until adulthood. Paula's post also got me thinking, could Jack be having migraines? When I used to have those, I "saw colors" and they would block my field of vision. It was scary. But Jack would probably have other symptoms too, like pain or nasuea. Darkness helped me with migraines too. I had them in my 20's and found they were caused by poor diet, stress, and made worse by caffien and sugar. Now that I eat better, I rarely have them. Still have the floaters though.
Our poor little guys get stuck with these things so early.
Increasing sensory therapy is probably a good idea. I know Jack doesn't eat much sugar normally or caffein at all, but could he have had extra sugar over the holiday? Just a thought.
Hope you can all get some sleep soon.
Hugs,
Katherine