My child does not sleep!
I have a child since he was five years old didn’t sleep through the night. Talk about a worried mom! I was getting up to him the middle of the night almost every night. He was also PICA and would put everything into his mouth. How could I get sleep for myself? There were many sleepless nights for the both of us. Some people just don’t require a lot of sleep, and he is one of them. However, now at 18 years old, I catch him taking naps.
I tried everything from natural melatonin to prescribed medication. I even decided when he went to sleep I will go to sleep. But as a mom with 4 other children that was just unfeasible. Nothing worked! They even brought in a night time staff while I got some sleep. The staff was only temporary. I saw myself getting more grouchy with my other children, I was doing nobody any good. So it finally came down to just protecting him and entertaining him until I was ready to get up.
This brings us to my husband creating the first adaptive switch for our home. Our child knew how to turn on and off light switches but had no concept of turning on his own television set. This do it yourself (DIY)https://youtu.be/_qF9sqZuYLU video is useful in making a T. V. come on by a light switch, only because Curtis was able to turn on and off light switches. Then we expanded it to a switch on his radio.
The sleep medication didn’t work for Curtis due to his constipation. Sometimes we have to weigh out which is better for our children, However,this medication worked great for another one of my autistic children with no backup.
We must protect our children and keep them safe so we can get some good sleep and not have to worry. I have seen some home’s install dutch doors where the door is open at the top and the bottom half is shut. I had a gait at one time blocking his doorway so he couldn’t get out of his room and eat something that could hurt him.
At any note, it worked, now when he gets up at 4 am to 6 am He watches television totally enjoying himself. I can hear him and know he is safe. I usually get up around 7, or when he gets really loud. By loud I mean by laughing at the cartoons and making happy sounds.
He totally didn’t mind. He loved all his early morning cartoons. I would hear him laughing and jump up and down knowing he was good. So you could ask the doctor for medication, or you can simply make sure your children are safe. However, it is very important for the parents to get sleep. We do our families no good if we are sleep deprived and grouchy.
