ANSWERS: 8
  • It might be a little tiring for you and inconvenient but try this. If he has afternoon naps, keep them to a maximum of 1 hour at about 12.00pm and no later than 1.00pm. Now to stop the late nights, wake him up as early as possible, even if it takes allot of effort. You have to be consistant with this technique and because he has been awake since early in the morninig, he will be very tired towards the end of the day.Set a bed time as a guide for you, EG. 7.30pm. This way you can still have abit of wind down time for yourself and it's not too late. One last tip, avoid sugary foods and sweet drinks. Children burn off the last bit of energy towards the end of the day when everyone else wants to go to sleep. Good Luck. Enjoy the new year.
  • Maybe he just doesn't need much sleep. When I was a kid, I used to hide under the blankets with my lamp and read until the sun came up, and could function perfectly well the next day. After getting annoyed at constantly having to get up during the night to check if I was sneaking a read, my parents finally declared that I was *fobidden* to go to bed before 1am, and that I had better be fresh as a daisy the next morning, because they would dump cold water on me if I didn't get up the first time they called. I guess they figured a few days of that would "cure" me. Well, after a solid week of going to bed at 1am (or later), I was still bright and chipper in the morning, five or six hours later. When they realized their experiment not only hadn't worked, but was in danger of actually making me happy, they quickly revoked the plan and began forcing me to bed at 9pm again. I guess what I'm saying is, if your kid is functional the next day, why force him to go to bed when he doesn't want to? (Incidentally, as a result of being forbidden to read as a child and having to sneak them the way most other kids sneak cigarettes or pot, I now read a book a day, and have for the last 25 years. Take that, mom and dad.)
  • Is there a place where you can enrol him where the kids are active running and playing all day long and, maybe, lots of swimming in a big pool. This kid is not the coloring-book-watch-TV type. Sounds like he needs to be more exhaustively active during the day than most, needing sleep when it comes time at the end of a big day. What's his pediatrician suggest...other than the all-too-easy route of meds?!?
  • just let him stay up and watch him get more tired, its like the only response that hasn't been said yet
  • My heart goes out to you as we are in the midst of our son who was diagnosed ED at 9 yrs old when he apparently has had hi issues all along we just didn't see it until he got old enough to be aggressive and bite and kick his principal. Stay consistent with what ever you do, it may take a week or two or months but children need boundaries to feel safe. I have found our son got angry to express his fears and to get attention. In the past he was punished for all the things he did that didn't meet our expectations which in the long run only made things worse for him as he began to realize he was bad all the time. With therapy we began to better see and address his emotional needs. A good place to start is a structured routine where your child earns privileges such as tv time, 1 on 1 time with mom or dad, favorite activity time. Reward with praise and privileges the littlest of positive behavior. Even getting up without a fuss, brushing teeth, picking up one pair of socks off the floor, putting away one toy will give them confidence and positive feelings of love from you they crave. Make their world a very small controlled world with simple but clear routine and expectations full of lots of opportunities for positive behavior and praise. Negative aggressive behavior should be dealt with quickly with time outs and loss of privileges, do *not* dwell on the moment, do not debate with them, explain what they did wrong simply and what you expect them to do better next time and leave it at that. Let them get fussy or upset about it, but when they calm down, let them know how proud you are of how they got their happy face back. Even at 4 they can learn coping skills and better ways to express their frustrations and anger. If you haven't, find a therapist and keep looking until you find one that connects with your child and you the parent(s). We went through 3 in 3 months before we found a terrific one. Find therapeutic play groups, skill building groups for ED children like yours, hugely important IMO. Bed time should be a positive experience for them with a consistent routine, reading a book with you, positive praise and thoughts and them going to bed as expected by you. Be consistent, positive praise, reinforce good behavior with privileges and get good help, you need it. One last thing, be prepared for battle come school time, there is hope and help in the school system, but you have to push and push hard. There are other mothers out there like you, seek them out, they will be your best allies and always remember you are your child's advocate through all this and things will get better.
  • It's difficult with autistic children as the usual motivators and disincentives don't always work. I know this because I am autistic myself. I didn't care much about gold stars and didn't mind time-outs all that much because then I could read in peace and quiet. Getting yelled at only made me agitated and less able to comply with any request. I had issues with night terrors and coping with hot temperatures at night but usually was okay to get to bed. Looking back, if I'd have had a fan, it would have blown away the mosquitoes and made the heat more bearable in summer and I think the night terrors would have been much fewer. Boys are often more active than girls and it is not uncommon for autistics to have odd sleep patterns or to only need a few hours sleep a night. Doesn't make it easy when there's other kids though.
  • i have four year old ferternal twins that are autistic and my daughter has that same prob we put her down at 8 she is up playing by 10 we just try to keep her in her room and eventually she gos back to sleep what works wich might not be the best thing is when she starts to tantrum i giver a warm cup of milk wich helps calm her down a bit
  • well, i babysit a child with disabilities and its hard to put her to sleep, so i usually try to do something sporty with her during the day to wear her out so she will be tired at night, and make sure they are up earlier too. try soothing things, like putting on bedtime stories (tape) and soft music to make them sleepy...another thing i do, is make sure they stay in their room, she will get bored and fall asleep. hope this helps and good luck!

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