Today has been a quiet one... at last!!! So I can share some other parts of the ASD family life instead of this turning into a "bitchfest" ;)
Todays topic.... Sleep!! Something I think all ASD parents can immediately share a sigh of "what sleep???".
When our eldest daughter was born, she suffered from severe reflux (another groan from the mummies who know what I am talking about). For the first 4 months the ONLY time she slept was when she was feeding - from ME!!! Once she was finally diagnosed and medicated she had already developed into her routine of sleeping with mummy. ROUTINE - a topic for another night... back to the story.... now our beautiful Makayla is 8 years old, and yep, still tries her best to sleep with Mum or Dad or Mama or SOMEONE!!! So lack of sleep and restless babies was something we sort of expected as a norm by the time Connor came along....
For the first couple of weeks, he was hard to settle, but then again he was also hard to feed. Then the power puking started - BUT we were prepared THIS time. Straight to the doc. Yep - onto the medication. then he slept. WOW!!! It worked before the horrid routine of sleeping with mum started! He slept for the 3 nights straight through. AWESOME we thought. Honestly it was a miracle. But then, at about 2 months old... trouble started... no sleeping again! No power puking so we knew the reflux was not the issue. So what now???
At the time Makayla and Connor shared a room. She was determine not to let her baby brother out of her sight ;). We had been trying everything to get her to sleep in her own bed so we happily let the baby sleep in the same room. She also had a night light, actually a scented candle, and soft lullaby music always playing as they drifted off to sleep. For those of you not in the know - ASD has a lot to do with the senses - sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. Can you pick the issues?? We had absolutely no idea! It's so easy now we know more about Connors world. We look back at what should have been warning signs.
Out of desperation we moved his cot into the quiet, dark, then toy room to let him "cry" him self to sleep - but as we walked away from the shut door a miracle happened - silence!!!! Straight off to sleep. OMG Seriously??? He was the perfect sleeper. He was the perfect, non clingy, happy to play by himself, sleeping bubby!
Then at about 18 months things began to change again. Still sleeping in his dark quiet room alone, he would wake and rock his cot for hours against the wall. Not crying but not sleeping any more. Perhaps he always did it but as he got bigger his rocking got harder. We will never know. Deciding to do away with the cot, we put a trundle bed in his room. We could still hear rocking, but not as bad. BUT we know he did not spend the night sleeping.
Every morning we would go into his room to find a MESS and Connor in the strangest places sleeping. I posted so many photos on Facebook!! His favourite was in the chest of draws. He would pull out all the clothes and draws and sleep in the draw! So funny! We found him in shelves, ontop of cupboards, on the floor - anywhere but his bed.
Draw Sleeping: April 2012
Once he learnt how to open the door to his room he would roam the house to find "stuff" to do. Stuff like bake a cake using 2 dozen eggs and all the jelly crystals... or making rivers and hills using morning fresh and coffee. We even found his bed upside down one morning. At the age of 2 1/2 years!!! Just shows his strength. So then we locked his door. We created a "safe room" for Connor. We removed ALL the furniture except a mattress and left his toys (cars) with him so he could play safe while we slept. Sometimes he would bang on his door waking everyone, and would only settle with me in the room, so eventually the bed was moved back in - for me!
NOW - during our first face to face visit with our Pediatrician, the issue of sleep was discussed. AGAIN we did not know that other kids had this problem!
Most ASD children do not have the ability to produce a chemical our bodies naturally produce called Melatonin. It is this hormone that makes us tired. To read all the tech stuff - wikipedia has some great info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melatonin
So Connor was prescribe slow release Melatonin. The very first night he fell asleep about 30 minutes after giving him the medication. All night we sat up waiting for him to wake. So funny. Every house creak or groan we thought was him up and about again. His little body must have been so exhausted and he caught up on 3 years of no sleep in the first week.
We know he still wakes, and will rock and sing himself back to sleep, but these are becoming less and less. He still has trouble sleeping in a bed. The melatonin assists him in feeling tired, but routine also has a part to play. We understand this now. If he has a big week or meltdowns - his body will shut down and he will sleep without the medication, but only for an hour or two. And when he wakes - he is full of beans! Into everything! AGAIN!! So we re-introduce the meds and off to sleep he goes.
Floor Sleeping (and snoring): July 2013
We have also been discussing getting him a weighted blanket - again a sensory thing, to try and get him to bed and stay put. Will keep you in touch with how that goes :)
So - Makayla still tries to sleep with us, Connor still rocks and sings, Shylah giggles and claps to herself throughout the night, and we are STILL praying for sleep!!!
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