Getting Your Autistic Child To Sleep – Autism Sleep Problems

Before I had my first son, I joined in all the usual jokes–” Say goodbye to sleep and hello to baggy eyes!” Everyone knows that babies are cute sleepless little terrors through the night, and that means mom and dad are sleepless too, but it can be a happy kind of weariness. We were excited about it.

We told ourselves it wasn’t so bad, and that they’ll start sleeping soundly soon; every parent goes through this rite of passage — we can do this.

But the restless nights didn’t end for our baby or for us. Sleeplessness was our life for more than a year.

Looking back, I realize it was one of the first symptoms of autism that I might have picked up on, but he was my first baby, and I was a bit clueless. I didn’t realize our situation wasn’t the norm. I thought it was like this for everyone. No baby sleeps, right?

That changed after a year and a half when it became obvious something was wrong besides his sleep.

My son still wasn’t communicating or even trying to mimic our words. That realization came with a dark, ugly pit in my stomach, and it sat there and chewed at my heart. It’s hard to describe just how powerless I felt and totally unable to even think of what I could do for him. 

We didn’t know where to go or who to go to, but we knew we had to get help somewhere. Once we did, the pit in our stomach didn’t leave, but it was like we learned how to carry it. Our son was diagnosed as being on the spectrum, and we dedicated ourselves to learning everything we could.

One thing we learned was that sleep would always be difficult for our son. Pediatrics magazine published a study among 2-5-year-olds and found that 80% of children with autism suffer from sleep problems, nearly twice that of their peers.

Knowing that helped us to prepare and face our son’s sleeping trouble together as a team. Knowledge is a reassurance–It was for us, and it will be for you.

Why Do Our Autistic Children Struggle To Sleep?

The exact reasons that insomnia and restlessness plague people on the spectrum can be hard to peg down, but in general, we can say there are a few likely culprits. 

• Autism is often accompanied by other conditions. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), anxiety, and gastrointestinal problems are commonly linked with autism. Combine all of that with a sensitivity to light, sound, and touch, and it’s no wonder why our kids can’t sleep well.
• Mutations are common in sleep governing genes. Studies suggest that the genes of autistic people that are associated with the sleep cycle and insomnia are more often mutated. Likewise, genes that govern the production of melatonin, our natural sleep chemical, are commonly different from neurotypical people.
• Prescriptions can stir up sleep problems. For example, stimulants often given to help with ADHD can trigger insomnia.

It’s also worth noting that our kids with autism have all of the usual reasons for sleep woes; Stress from school and relationships, excitement, caffeine, and sleep apnea. You name it. It’s worth having your child’s doctor check for non-autism-related sleeping conditions too.

Our Efforts Make a Difference

It can be really easy to feel like this is too much, that all of these factors stacked together will have us beat. Maybe our sleep-deprived mind is already telling us, “Ok, I give up. Does my family really need sleep?”

Trust me; you can do this. Your autistic son or daughter has a hill to climb to find a cozy sleep routine, but your hard work can carve them a stairway. Your good parenting will make that journey easier for them.

Don’t just take my word for it. Good sleep routine practices were tested in a program with 80 autistic children from 2-10 years old. Before the program, the average sleep latency, or the time it took the kids to fall asleep, was 58.2 minutes. After the program, that average plummeted to 39.6 minutes, and nearly 30 of the kids could fall asleep in under half an hour.

Similar methods can and will work for your family. Not only can your kids sleep more soundly, but you can help encourage them to do it without depriving yourself of your own needed sleep.

How to Create a Comfy Sleeping Environment and Routine

Understanding our child’s sleeping routine and needs boils down to understanding five key points. Everything about a good sleeping program can be traced back here.

• What they do during the day
• What they do before bed
• When they go to bed
• What they need to fall asleep
• Where they sleep

What To Do During The Day

Focus your daily activities around things that will make sleeping easier.

• Maintain a good diet. The right food will keep your child’s gastrointestinal problems to a minimum and ease the cramping that can rob them of sleep. Remember the basics, healthy fruit like apples and oranges are good for digestion. If you have a picky eater on your hand, vitamin-C pills are a healthy option.
• Keep them exercising. Physical activity in the right balance can tire our kids out and help put them to sleep. Children 6 and up should be getting a good hour of rambunctious physical activity every day in addition to muscle exercises (weight training) and bone strengthening play (running, jump rope) three times a week each.
• Give them lots of sunshine. Sunlight exposure can help keep their usually fickle sleep/wake cycle properly attuned.
• Have naps at the right time. If your child is over 5, try to limit their naps to 20 minutes and never later than 2 pm. If they nap too long or too late, it can make it harder to fall asleep at night. Sometimes you might need to distract them with games and songs to stop them from napping, like on the car ride home.

What To Do Before And At Bedtime

All our hard work during the day can be undone if we don’t stick the landing.

• Avoid caffeine, screens, or excitement right before bed. These things stimulate our minds, so our brain will be tricked into being alert instead of getting the sleep it needs.
• Have calming pre-bedtime activities up to an hour before bed. Time spent reading a book, quietly chatting, tooth brushing or drawing can all be used as soothing cues that it’s time for bedtime. Aromatherapy or Epson salt baths are great ways to get their brain into sleep mode.

What They Need To Fall Asleep

• Set up solid sleep associations. Some of us can’t sleep unless we listen to a recording of rain. That sort of association is even more powerful for our autistic children.

If they wake up in the middle of the night, they’ll need these associations to get back to sleep, so make sure it’s something they can provide for themselves. If they need you to be there when they sleep, they’ll wake you up to help put them back to bed.

A favorite stuffed animal is a common association, and some parents use pictures on the nightstand to point to as part of the nightly routine.

Where They Need To Sleep

• Create a low sensory environment. This means no lights, noises, or any other distractions. 

That said, every child is unique. Some do find comfort in white noise, nightlights, and even TV or radios, but start with a very calm room before experimenting. If you do include noise, make sure it’s consistent. Randomized noises, like birds chirping, will be too stimulating.

• Find the right temperature. Everyone likes to sleep in different conditions, so you’ll have to experiment to find what’s right for your son or daughter. A good place to start is 65-67° F, which is widely considered the perfect range of temperature by sleep experts.
• Experiment with fabrics and textures. Some materials can be itchy or irritating and keep your child awake. Their PJs or bedsheets and even zippers, buttons, and seams can cause them stress. 

Other Tools and Tips

• Find and maintain the right bedtime. Start by determining the best time for your child to sleep based on their needs. If you know they need more then 10 hours of rest but have to wake up at 7 am to be ready for school, then that means bedtime should be 8 pm. 

Keep that ideal bedtime in mind when planning all of your evening activities.

It can take several weeks to transition your child to a new bedtime, but those are several weeks well worth it in the long run.

Begin by putting them to bed whenever they get tired, even if it’s much later or earlier than your chosen time. Then move the bedtime 15 minutes in the right direction every two days until you adjust them to the correct time.

• Incorporate melatonin pills to help with sleep onset.