Ds just won't sleep...

[muldey]

I'm at my wit's end.Ds,asperger's,heart defects,2nd chromosome deletion,just will not sleep!School starts tomorrow and I don't know what to do.I put him to bed at 8:30 last night,he didn't fall asleep until midnight.Then he was up around 7am.I know this is NOT enough sleep for him.It's affecting his behavior.He's screaming over every little thing,destroying things,just not being himself.Right now he's happily talking to himself about computers,but I know if that really old laptop he's playing with stops working it's going to be a nightmare.He's even like this with his HBTS worker.I know a lot of it is sleep related,and I'm sure some anxiety over school.I've tried everything to get him to sleep,everything that worked before no longer works.Even laying down with him isn't helping,when that always worked before.Any ideas?He has a bath,we talk for a little while,then it's bedtime.I'm going to try getting him to read with me tonight,he never really liked that but we can give it another try.

[APToddlerMama]

Have you tried Melatonin? A weighted blanket?

[muldey]

We've tried the weighted blanket,but not the Melatonin.Where would I get that,would it have to be a HFS or just a pharmacy?Thanks!

[askew]

You can probably find Melatonin anywhere. We have the liquid kind which I like better as my kids are small and I can really vary the dose. It was a wonder with my 3.5 year old DS (NT), but does not work at all on DD(SN). Like at all. It was a major bummer. Our neuro told us that a lot of SN kids don't produce enough of their own Melatonin so it is often the first thing she recommends when sleep is an issue.

[rainbringer]

Melatonin has helped us, also chamomile tea. Good luck!

[nayma]

hi. yeah, lack of sleep is sooo rough on our kids (and us!). i tried everything natural for dd (valerian, epsom salts baths, herbal teas, etc.) - nothing worked. finally i tried melatonin, and it has been so helpful for dd (4). when i first tried, i gave her (0.5 mg), but it made her wake really quickly, and she was all crazy. i tried it again months later (with a much smaller dose, per mamas on this board), and it was a whole different thing. our developmental ped recommended 1-3 mg., but that's just crazy! so now i give her 0.125 mg (an EIGHTH of a milligram, liquid) about a half an hour before bed. if she's not physically tired, it does nothing. if her body is tired (and her brain is not), however, it really seems to help her flip the switch. you could start with a quarter of a milligram, and work up until it seems to help. best of luck!!

[APToddlerMama]

Originally Posted by muldey

We've tried the weighted blanket,but not the Melatonin.Where would I get that,would it have to be a HFS or just a pharmacy?Thanks!

You can get liquid melatonin at Whole Foods. You can also get the tablets at just about any store...grocery or pharmacy. We use the liquid form and have found through research and trial and error that my son responds to a very very low dose of it. We just give him 0.1 mg/ml in a dropper (sometimes .05) and he's out within about 20 minutes (versus two hours or more...). He is about 32 lbs so you may need more but I would start very low as it can be useful even in tiny doses and there are some risks associated with its use. Also, there is research supporting the idea that more can actually interfere with sleep instead of helping, which we've experienced first hand.

We get the droppers either from friends who work in healthcare, or at Walgreens from the pharmacist. They are really syringes without the needles to be able to get smaller doses. It is nice because you can try giving .1 at a time and the syringe is divided at .1 intervals up to 1ml. I think for kids the standard is to start at .25 or .5 (at least per our neurologist.) but I would really start at the low end of that at the most. Good luck.

[hadleys_mom]

Melatonin can be great but you may want to research the effects of taking it long term or for more than a few days. We opt for light therapy over melatonin supplements to increase melatonin for my blind DD.

Is it possible that your DS needs a good sensory diet to make sure his sensory needs are met prior to going to bed?

[khaoskat]

Originally Posted by muldey

We've tried the weighted blanket,but not the Melatonin.Where would I get that,would it have to be a HFS or just a pharmacy?Thanks!

I buy mine at Walmart or Krogers in the pharmacy area where they put alot of the herbal supplements.

Also, see what his serum iron levels are, the are finding some sleep issues related to low iron levels.

[Stephenie]

I was just reading that most ASD kids with sleep issues are not producing enough serration, melatonin and gaba. IIRC the study I was reading saw more than half of the studied kids with AS (they studied them vs any other part of the spectrum for some reason, not sure why) had improved sleep with 3mg melatonin before bedtime.
here's the slideshow it was mentioned in http://card-usf.fmhi.usf.edu/conf_fi...28Malow%29.pdf

The whole slide is about ASD and sleep.

edited to add:
Not sure if I remember it all correctly, but it's worth checking out the link.

[Linda on the move]

melatonin helps my ASD DD. She still isn't a great sleeper, but it's better. I'm thinking about having her do a sleep study this year and see if we can figure anything new out.

Does your son often have sleep problems or is part of the issue that school is starting? My neurotypical kid couldn't sleep leading up to starting school, either, but I know with her it's just situational and will self correct as she gets comfortable with school.