Waking up at night

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2004
Waking up at night
7
Fri, 02-10-2006 - 10:15pm

Well, I'm not quite sure what to think of this. A couple days ago, Nathan has started waking up in the middle of the night. Actually, it's around 11-12:00. He's been taking his melatonin, and I noticed about a couple weeks ago that it was taking longer for it to take affect. So, I did increase it....he's been growing so much!!! So, he's falling asleep ok, but it's the waking up that I'm confused about.

Is this common for our kids to do this as they get older?? I asked him why he was awake, and he just says that he can't sleep. Basically what he does is constantly roll around in his bed and then call out to us. The first night, dh just told him to come into our bed. The next night, dh went to Nathan's room because he heard him wrestling around in bed....and found Nathan just sitting up in his bed.

I'm not having any problems with this, Nathan is pretty easy to deal with at night. But I was just wondering if anyone else has a child that just wakes up at night.

michelle

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2004
Sat, 02-11-2006 - 6:52am

Jack (5 years old tomorrow) wakes up at night.....this is a new thing that started around Christmas.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sat, 02-11-2006 - 8:56am

hi michelle,

it is my understanding that sleep disturbances are very common, especially with kids on the spectrum. i have a cousin on the spectrum who is now a teenager and he has always woken up in the night. maybe you could relook at his sensory system and see if you can do anything at the end of the day to assist him, ie--body brushing before bed, proprioceptive work before bed, heavy work at the end of the day. if he will swallow pills, there is time released melatonin that might help too. i'll let you know if i think of anything else. it could also be a growth spurt too. at least he is remaining regulating when he wakes up! tc, valerie

~Valerie
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sat, 02-11-2006 - 9:36am

I don't know how well it works but I recently read that magnessium helps the body stay asleep. I do give Epsom Salt baths to Mike frequently before bed. I hadn't thought about if it helps sleep but I have noticed I have been able to cut back on his melatonin when I do and that he appears calmer during the day when I do.

Come to think of it his sleep has been better. He doesn't wake every night but he will go through phases and he has a very hard time falling asleep. It is a cheap and easy thing to try.

Renee

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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2004
Sat, 02-11-2006 - 12:12pm

Well, we've tried the epsom salts...didn't work, infact did nothing for Nathan. We do give him a massage before bed, he really seems to like this. But I don't spend alot of time on this....maybe I should try doing a little more and see what happens.

Last night he did ok, but he woke up at 6am...EXTREMELY awake!! He was in my face all morning (I was still sleeping!). He kept caressing and kissing my cheeks saying, "wake up, wake up...mommy wake up!" This went on FOREVER!!!

He never really seems tired though, guess he just doesn't need as much sleep as I do!! LOL I could sleep all day!!! Of course, if my mind was running as fast as his....I would probably have troubles sleeping too!

michelle

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Sat, 02-11-2006 - 6:59pm

Sylvia has always been a fantastic nighttime sleeper -- by which I mean from a very early age I'd be able to put her to bed awake, and she'd chat to herself before falling asleep, then sleep through the night, then wake up and chat to herself until I came to get her. But she does go through phases, every year or so, where she wakes up in the middle of the night and is awake for an hour or sometimes two hours before falling back asleep. In fact, she just went through a phase like this a month or so ago -- it coincided with her being sick, and I don't know if that's a coincidence or not. Anyway, usually she's not upset or anything when she wakes up, we just hear her talking and chatting, sometimes at the top of her lungs! Going into her room to tell her to go back to sleep just seems to make her more giddy and excited, so we usually just check on her once, try to tuck her back in, and then try to ignore her and fall back asleep, since we know she'll fall back asleep eventually, when she's ready. I have no idea what causes this -- being sick? growth spurt? some kind of schedule change we're unaware of? But it usually doesn't last long, and even if she's tired during the day, it tends to balance itself out eventually.

Sorry I couldn't be of help, but at least you know you're not alone! ;-)

Jennifer

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-20-2001
Sat, 02-11-2006 - 9:37pm
With Bobby we inadvertently made the mistake of having a "family bed" and we are still tying to get him out of our bed.

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 02-12-2006 - 12:59am

We did the body pillow with Cait and then actually trained the dog to sleep on her bed. What helped was having a roommate. LOL. When they were tiny we actually put Mike and Cait in the same room and had the other bedroom as a playroom. She slept better. Then when Emily was born we moved the girls into thier own room and she slept even better.

Cait is better now that she is "older" and nearly a teen, but my younger 3 all need roommates or they just can't sleep. If one of the kids sleeps over at a grandparents thier roommate just can't be alone. So the other smaller kid will either sleep in thier room or the lonely kid will sleep on the floor in the other. So if Dave is gone, Emily will sleep on Dave's bed or Mike will sleep on the floor of the girls room.

Mike also is afraid of bad dreams so we bought him an indian dream catcher on our cross country trip. It broke and I got 12 on ebay for a steal. He now has 2 that he takes everywhere and can't sleep without, lol. It is a silly fix but it works for him. Roommates and dreamcatchers.

Renee

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