sensory seeker will not sleep

[riverview9]

my son hasn't been officially diagnosed with sensory problems but i'm sure that's part of his problem. he's hyposensitive with touch and movement. i am so tired and alone in all this. i'm making a weighted blanket tomorrow but any other idea?

[csb13]

i am sorry. spd and sleep is sooo challenging. you are certainly not alone here. i haven't tried a weighted blanket yet but would if i could find time to make one. i think that one thing i have to remember about my ds (6 years) is that it really takes a long long time to fall asleep, and we have to commit at least two hours to the bedtime settling down time daily. i don't like it but it is. i personally have had to work hard on just accepting a lot about my ds that is challenging.

good luck to you on your journey. i wish i had a magic answer for you!

[Kristine233]

Our pediatrician said melatonin was ok to use and it's worked great. It's helped my son settle down enough at night that he could relax and fall asleep.

Otherwise multiple blankets can help similar to a weighted one as well. Goodluck, I hope you find something that works!

[Linda on the move]

I'd also work on a good sensory diet during the day, because it is my experience that what happens during the day makes a big difference in what happens at bedtime.

[crankpotgirls]

I am in the same boat. My daughter (age 6) has not been officially diagnosed, but I feel pretty confident that has sensory issues. Sleep has been one of the hardest struggles we have dealt with since her birth. I started giving her melatonin when she was 3.5. I just give her half a milligram and if I do not give it to her, she cannot fall asleep for hours and hours. I had recently had a worry-attack that I was harming her in some way by giving her the melatonin and did some research/question asking. I found out from my sister-in-law, who is a nurse at a facility for medically fragile children, that they often give the children melatonin there. I figure that if it is OK for them, that it is probably OK for my daughter. Especially at such a low dose. It is amazing to me how well it works. She cannot fall asleep easily without it. We still have a very familiar bedtime routine, avoid caffeine, we have eliminated dairy from her diet, etc. but I really feel like the melatonin is the only thing that works for her at this point. I wish you all the best. Sleep is so, so important- for children and for their mothers....

[kisskisskiddo]

my son (3) has NEVER not had sleep issues, and i made him a weighted blanket about 2 months ago and it has helped SO much! i call it our miracle... cause he never slept through the night till he slept with the weighted blanket. now i do believe it helps keep him asleep, but getting him to calm down before bedtime enough to fall asleep has taken more work than that. we handle things very routinely, and he is very ritualistic about bedtime, but i think going gluten free, casein free, and soy free is what really helped. he no longer has meltdowns at bedtime like he used to and it is so amazing! i wish you luck. im sure you will see much improvement with the weighted blanket!

[riverview9]

Thanks everyone for replying. What is melatonin? Is it over the counter? I tried putting a heavy sleeping bag on him and it did no good so I skipped making a weighted blanket.
One thing that has worked 3 times now is "monster massage". I grab part his shoulders and squeeze as tight as i can and work my way don his body squeezing for 3 seconds. He laughs and asks for more. After that he tends to fall asleep.

It helps to know I'm not in this alone and I first learned aobut sensory problems because of this board. My doctor and school professionals only seem to have 3 labels: normal, autism, developmentally delayed. DS isn't any of these so they don't know what to do. I have a hard time not being angry about the ignorance around here. I already know more than they do and all I have is the internet (no college degree)

[Emmeline II]

You can get melatonin in drops or in pill form. I had to go to a vitamin shop to get the 1mg pills as most stores only have the 3mg or 5mg.

[riverview9]

I got the 1mg melatonin pills at walmart and i'm still trying to find poly pellets to make a weighted blanket. I tried rice bu5 I would only be able to put 1/4 cup in each 6 inch square pocket. is that what its supposed to be like? small weights spread fall apart with lots of space in between? i thought a weighted blanket would be uniformly heavy