(originally written & published on December 12, 2011 when my son was 8 1/2 years old)
On my Autism Daddy Facebook Page I get asked alot
HOW DOES THE KING SLEEP AT NIGHT? DO YOU GIVE HIM ANYTHING TO HELP HIM SLEEP?? HOW MUCH DO YOU GIVE HIM??
So I thought I’d write a blog post all about it. So here goes… 🙂
Sleep used to be a big issue around here. It would take hours to get the king to sleep even though he was VERY TIRED. Then about 2 1/2 years ago we started giving him melatonin. Melatonin is NOT a drug, it is a supplement and you can find the pill form in the vitamin section of ANY pharmacy. If your kid won’t take pills you can get liquid forms of melatonin online.
Amazingly, the king takes pills VERY well. You can put a pill on a teaspoon with some baby food bananas and he will eat it right down. And in July of 2009 we started giving him melatonin and it has been a GODSEND. I said in an old post that it’s the one thing we’ve tried that has done exactly what they said it’s supposed to do.
He goes thru phases where as little as 200mcg is all he’ll need to fall asleep and other times he’ll need as much as 6mg. So we always have a 200mcg bottle and a 3mg bottle on hand. We give it to him 30-45 minutes before bedtime and it usually works within
that 30-45 minutes.
Now the thing you should know about melatonin is that IT HELPS YOU FALL ASLEEP, but if you’re not tired IT WON’T KEEP YOU ASLEEP.
So if you’re kid is not tired and he falls asleep with melatonin he may be up at 2am. Then you might need to look into a true sleeping pill or a med or supplement that causes true/ long lasting drowsiness…
But for us Melatonin has worked wonders. My son usually falls asleep somewhere between 8:30-9:00pm and sleeps til about 6:00-7:00am. There’s at least 1-2 times per month where he’ll wake up at 2am. Sometimes we’ll give him a bit more and he’ll fall back to sleep, other times he’ll be up for the day… but 1-2x a month is ALOT better than the 3-4x per week that it used to be before melatonin.
Now as to his sleep routine… he really doesn’t have one. The wife calls me “The Sleep Whisperer” and it’s always been my job to get the king to bed at night. Sometimes that means starting up in his room with the tv on & lights on and slowly shifting to tv on and lights off and then tv off. Other nights we will start the bedtime routine in the living room and shift to his bedroom.
Other nights the king will pass out on the couch. There is no consistency to it… and sometimes I try to set up a routine, but my asd kid doesn’t live by schedules and routines, so I say why stress it as long as he falls asleep.
The only thing that’s bad and that I need to work on is that no matter where he is, he still kinda needs me (or mom) physically in the room with him to fall asleep. If we put him in his room 30 minutes before bedtime he will not unwind on his own. I feel like that is something that I need to work on before he gets too much older.
But anyway, long story short…
The king sleeps well thanks to the magic of melatonin and we feel EXTREMELY lucky about this. Every night when the wife and I are sitting on the couch at 10pm watching tv I thank my lucky stars that he’s a good sleeper because with everything else he throws at us if we added on 1am bedtimes on top of it I don’t know what I would do…
Let’s hope this good sleeping phase lasts FOREVER!
Prologue by Autism Daddy: Howdy folks! Long time no blog! I hope y'all are well! …
Howdy folks! As many of you know I work at Sesame Street, and was proud…
Intro: Jim lives in Pittsburgh where he works as a Project Manager by day…
GUEST POST Almost 10 years ago, my then 2 -year old son, Devin, was…
GUEST POST -Ellie Whetzel is a Wife, Mom, and blogger who writes about the ups,…
I've taken my son to Sesame Place many times! He's 14 years old, but he'll…
View Comments
Also there is a time release melatonin now that works wonders :)))
Trader Joes has chewable Melatonin too
Glad it is working for you! My son will take absolutely nothing orally! So many years when he was younger he would be up practically all night! I just started letting him sleep on the couch out of desperation, it took many years to get him in a bed. He is 12 now and his bedtime routine is lots better :)
Since my son was a small baby, I cried hysterically to a handful of pediatricians and a psychologist (BEFORE my son was diagnosed on the ASD)on numerous occasions that my son would not sleep at all and screamed all night long and it was killing me and my husband and our marriage and my other child was starting to go into depression...and they recommended Benadryl...wow, wish I had thought of that. (DUH...How stupid did I look...Benadryl made him worse, not better) So, a Dr finally listened when my son was 10 (still before my son was diagnosed if you can believe that it took that long for someone to figure out he was on the AS) he was put on clonindine which also changed his personality for the worse and now he cannot come off it, but still has trouble sleeping so we now added melatonin. WHICH WAS A MIRACLE AT THE RIGHT AMOUNT! I recently read in a medical article that up to 10mg was fine. In that same article, I read that many autism spectrum children are LOW in melatonin...so it is a good thing. To me the sleep issue was as big as the autism itself. If you cannot sleep you cannot deal with life and lose your coping abilities. So, I too bow to the God of creation who made this wonderful thing called Melatonin.
Thanks for posting this :) I have been struggling with my son suddenly deciding sleep is for whimps or something lol I have heard a lot about this melatonin stuff being used but not a lot about it specifically. Thanks for the information. :) I appreciate it. :)
Thanks for posting this, I have a 3 1/2 year son, who was dignosed on his 3rd birthday (July 11th), with ASD. I've been telling the doctors since he was a infant, that he wouldn't sleep all night, he'd scream for hours,(in his sleep). After he stopped talking at 2 1/2. I've still been telling the doctors he dont sleep all night. He falls asleep easily, but hes up by 2 or 3 AM, or if he does sleep all night, he tosses and turns the whole time. The doctor said he was too young for medication. I need help, I get to the point where I just don't know what to do, I feel helpless. It's hard to be up all night, then go work all day, then come home and take care of him, hes hard to deal with sometimes, I think if we could just get some sleep it'd make things a little easier. Is there a certain age for this Melatonin? Is 3 1/2 too young?
My son is 3 half and takes melatonin..I would call his doc or neurologist ( if he has one) and see what dosage they recommend
U can start with 1.5mg up to 6mg as needed. Our son is 4 and has taken it since age 2. Developmental pediatrician recommended it. Works good.
Our daughter is ten and takes 2 mg every night. It's a miracle supplement!
I have the 3 1/2 year old I just told you about, I forgot to mention, hes been up since 3 am. and he's wide open, he has knee'd me in the stomach, kicked me in the stomach, jumped on my head, and throw a bowl of ceral across the floor,and poured out his juice in the floor. He 's been screaming and yelling at me. This is what my day is like, after being up all night.
My son is 3 and takes Melatonin. We use the liquid one that we find at Whole Foods; the Dr. prescribed 1 ml 45 minutes before bedtime. We were also told that we can give him a little more if he wakes up in the middle of the night.
Good luck!
Hi, great post, and i wanted to also say , that we salute the Melatonin gods too, i have a 2 n 1/2 asd son, ( we found out last Oct) classic nonverbal, regressed around 18 months, and giving him melatonin at night has signficantly helped us both! started him on liquid 1mg hour or so before bed, and now we have worked up to 3-4 most nights , it helps him unwind, but he WILL NOT if im not right with him, so i bought a bigger bed and just sleep with him now, because he would wake up n come get me all night along if i didnt. maybe thats bad, but i have to sleep too or things would be even worse. i pick my battles too. but thanks for the good info , you rock!!!!! :)
I agree, pick your battles, and do what is best for your child & the person staying up all night. :) My oldest G sons ( lives with us) would fall asleep 1,2 3 am, sometimes after a meltdown because he "Just wanted to go to sleep" & he would cry, "Help me". I slept with him a lot and even at 14 now, I will go in and lay down with him. For the most part, he can get to sleep & stay asleep now but when he is sleepless... I am not staying up all night! So this is where the md told me, pick you battles. I am not as young nor am I as healthy as I used be, so yes sleep makes us both happier and I am good with that. :)
We use a combo of Melatonin and Benadryl nightly since my son with autism was 4. Without this combo his sleeps maybe 4 hrs and is up in the middle of the night screaming or reciting Sesame Street lines or talking to our friends Buzz and Woody. Thank you Melatonin. Good luck all and sweet dreams