Sleep Disturbance- 4/5/93

[Guest guest]

Hello Dr. Sulkes,

For at least two weeks now (or longer--can't remember in our state of

exhaustion), has been waking around 2 AM. We have explored all the

possibilities such as: his being too warm/cold, wet/soiled, awakened by a noise,

etc. only to decide that none of these is the problem.

Since he's been on the vitamin cocktail, he has been growing taller and we've

seen some signs of what seems better comprehension. He now has a sense of when

we may leave him with someone else and has thrown several tantrums at such

times. This however, does not explain his night wakefulness. Sometimes he'll

quiet and go right back to sleep and other times, he's up for the duration

and/or goes back to sleep for a few hours.

Recently, he had an ear infection to which we attributed some of the problem,

but that seems to have cleared up now and we are again at wits' end trying to

figure out why he doesn't sleep through the night. Doesn't seem to matter what

time he goes to sleep--early or late, he wakes up around 2 AM. Tried keeping

him up longer, feeding him later, and all those kinds of things.

(My observation this evening/morning was that he will sit and just swing from

the waist, back and forth continuously, for at least a half hour or more at a

time, if allowed to do so.)

Although he has a buzzer on his door, he can turn the knob now and lets himself

out anyway. We have asked our local DDSO to get funding to have the door make

into something similar to a Dutch door so that we can lock on the bottom half

and view him through the top portion when he's in his room. (This of course,

pertains more to issues of behavior although it would be helpful if he didn't

roam in the night either.)

Honestly, we cannot take much more of this--it disrupts the entire household.

Obviously, Ted has to get up for work weekdays and can't be up in the night with

although he has done so because I'm having trouble with foot pain related

to an old injury and must take codeine to sleep sometimes. On the nights, when

I try to take only Tylenol, I get up with myself--but then spend the next

several days catching up/recovering (if possible). Ted does not have this same

opportunity and it becomes very unfair as well as exhausting. Even though we

have respite, one hesitates to contact a crisis center in the middle of the

night--and by the time someone came, it'd be more disruptive and uncomfortable

(if this makes any sense).

Any input? Increase in meds? We need our sleep just to cope with daily living

activities and it goes without saying that our household becomes slightly more

than dysfunctional with these sleepless nights. Ted even went so far as to

mention that it's too bad we can't just find a 24-hour tranquilizer so that we

could all catch up.

Help?!!

Shirley Semesky

Alter your attitude and you can alter your life.

[Guest guest]

Shirley,

I don't know 's history, but our son (soon to be 4) has had

sleep problems since birth. He rarely sleeps through the night. He usually

awakens between 1 and 3am and, like you said, he may go right back to sleep

or he may be up for a good long while.

We have tried many things to solve this problem, (melotonin-magnesium,

clonidine, etc.)none successfully. After reading much on the

subject,(especially " Solving Your Child's Sleep Problems " by Ferber)

we have discovered that it is part of the typical sleep cycle to wake 4 to 6

hour after going to sleep. Most of us don't even realize it. We go

immediately back to sleep. However, asd kids have alot of difficulty with

self-soothing and they rouse. Then they can't get back to sleep.

Our method of handling the problem is keep our bedroom door open and

sleep lightly. When he wakes up we turn the tv on and put on a video. Then

I unfold the hide-a-bed and sleep on it while he's up. Usually, I'll wake

in the morning to a sleeping little boy beside me.

We get maybe one or two nights of uninterrupted sleep per month. You

get used to it. As for advice, I'd say get the Ferber book, try

melotonin-magnesium and keep accurate data. The melotonin is supposed to

put the child to sleep and the magnesium is supposed to keep the child

asleep. It didn't work for us, but I have read about how it helped others.

The Ferber book shows how to keep a good sleep chart.

Hope this helps,

Pat in Ohio