DD waking up crying for hours at night ?

[Peacemamalove]

DD who is 5 1/2 and an aspie keeps waking up every night crying and crying. For hours last night it was for about 3 hours straight. No matter what we do we can not console her. I have tried giving her water, holding her, talking to her, leaving her be etc.

Does anyone have any advice or thoughts? Thanks

[kittynurse]

Sounds like night terrors to me. For my kids I had to just let them be and just be a calm presence until they settled down. If I made any attempt to help them it just made it worse.

Also, for my kids, their night terrors are linked to when they aren't getting enough sleep. I think it was the Dr. Sears site that I got that idea from. I now know when they've had a night terror that I need to be more vigilant about making sure they get enough sleep.

It's scary to see them so upset and not be able to help them but I found once I knew what was going on it was easier to handle.

Martha

[sbgrace]

Is she fully awake/aware initially? Usually in night terrors the child is terrified and unaware of people/surroundings. They can wake up and then be upset but I'm not sure this is what you're describing.

She could be having a nightmare.

They did a sleep study when my son was doing this to look for seizures and other issues. I think he was actually waking at a peak level of a medication he was taking (a special form of coq10 in his case).

[sosurreal09]

((((hugs)))) that must be so difficult! poor girl...i would guess night terrors/mares but you cant console her...

i do know a form of epilepsy runs in my family where we have brain seizures while sleeping. it wakes us up but to a child it may be like who is waking me? KWIM?
i really hope ts not that though...

[Kristine233]

I've heard its actually really common for AS and ASD kiddos to sleep horribly at night.

Sometimes the brain is just working at 110mph or anxiety (common with spectrum kids), it can be hard to wind down enough or stay wound down. It can be very frustrating for both child and parent and especially when a child doesn't understand why they are having the fears (anxiety) or can't sleep. I can see where repeats of this, especially if its anxiety driven, could lead to crying fits. At least with my kiddo, since he started taking his anti-anxiety meds its calmed down for us a lot.

Another possibility is night terrors. My oldest had them something awful and it was scary as a parent. Usually kids have them at a younger age, but it wouldn't surprise me too much if a 5 year old was still having them. Night terrors are different than nightmares. With a night terror they seem awake but are unresponsive and can't be "snapped out of it". They could last a long time and she didn't even know she had had one. Suddenly it would be over and she'd be passed out again. Having a consistent routine before bed and making sure she was always well rested and not over tired helped a lot. She was also one of those kids who simply never slept too, her brain doesn't wind down and that contributed to it. With her pediatrician's approval we started giving her melatonin and that helped immensely with the sleep part at least. Once she was getting good sleep there were far less night time wake ups from things like night terrors or anxiety. As far as what to do during the night terror? We just kept it calm and mellow and didn't try to wake her up (even though she already looked awake, that rarely worked and sometimes made it worse). We would dim the lights, and lay with her or sit with her until it passed. Its hard to see because we just want to help our kiddos and don't want to see them scared, but as far as I know its actually more common than you'd think.

Hugs mama, I hope you can find something that will work for her and figure out what it all is!

[HealthHomeHappy]

(I usually lurk here, but thought I'd start posting )

Mine started sleeping much better once we did epsom salt baths. She's ASD-ish developmental delay. We did those to help with sleep for about a year, and we just started on L-carnosine and that seems to help her not need the baths as much for sleep, we still put epsom salts in her baths when she gets them, but at least we don't have to give her a 20 minute bath every evening whether she needs it or not, just to help her sleep.

[QueenOfTheMeadow]

Originally Posted by HealthHomeHappy

(I usually lurk here, but thought I'd start posting )

Mine started sleeping much better once we did epsom salt baths. She's ASD-ish developmental delay. We did those to help with sleep for about a year, and we just started on L-carnosine and that seems to help her not need the baths as much for sleep, we still put epsom salts in her baths when she gets them, but at least we don't have to give her a 20 minute bath every evening whether she needs it or not, just to help her sleep.

I second the epsom salts or magnesium before bed. There is actually a form of solid epsom salts, like an ointment that we used to put on ds1's back when he was younger. I can't remember what it was called though. it did seem to help him to sleep more soundly.

Our ds2 has night terrors that can be extremely disturbing. He can even somewhat respond to us, but it doesn't often make sense. He cries and walks around all upset, yelling and saying that something is trying to get him or someone else and he can't help them. It's awful! We have found if he is stressed out by something or if he's overtired they tend to happen. We have found that valerian tends to help.

[Peacemamalove]

Thanks for all the great advice


We have a bedtime routine. All of our little ones are in bed by 7/7:30 we do a bath,teeth,read books then bed. Every night same thing. We do not think they are night terrors. We can talk to her and she responds back plus it goes on for hours. Being overtired, crying, we are unable to understand what she is saying due to crying and talking at the same time. It has been just awful.

BUT

She always says she feels hot. Even when it is below zero she will say she is hot. Last night she said she was hot and couldn't sleep. She has her fan on high blowing right on her and the window cracked open but we gave her a cold wet towel and she fell asleep and slept all night.

Same thing tonight she asked for the wet towel and fell right asleep within minutes.

Any ideas for ways to help her feel less hot or more comfortable? We have tried almost everything we can think of !