Tuesday, December 11, 2012

SLEEP, or lack thereof !!??



My 7 year old  son Isaac has me so puzzled.  I have asked the doctors, I have asked the Behavioral Specialist, I have ask the psychologist, I have ask other parents....

My son does not sleep long enough!!  I give him upto 7mg of Melatonin every night.  We usually empty a capsule onto his ice cream or into his nightly sippy cup around 9pm.  Usually asleep by 10 pm.  BUT he's up and about right now at 4 am as he is every morning.  Right now I am listening to the familiar sound of him humming over a very loud TV that usually wakes everyone else in the house up.

Giving him a slow release dose of Melatonin is not really an option because it comes in a capsule form that has to be swallowed.  He cannot do that.

I should add that Isaac does have Autism and Down Syndrome.  I do know that not sleeping is an Autism trait, but WHAT CAN I DO?  He is in kindergarten and I always feel so bad sending him to school when I know he has to be ready for a nap.

Has anyone dealt with this and is there any hope??!!


2 comments:

Leah Spring said...

Angela used to go DAYS without sleeping. 3-4 without batting an eyelash. For years the DS specialists suggested clonidine but I was resistant to put her on "hard drugs". Finally at 9 I couldn't take it anymore. Oh my gosh! I can't believe I waisted years of sleep by resisting the clonidine! She is asleep within 30-45 minutes of taking it and sleeps a solid 12 hours most of the time. (when she's pms'ing she tends to wake a couple times at night )

Anonymous said...

That has never been offered to us, I may just have to ask. Five kids and life tend to require a few more hours of sleep than we are getting.