Night waking

loubylou

Hi, I have a son with autism, he's now 13. For some years now we have had various problems with his sleep. I did have some advice from our local Sleep Clinic but it didn't really work for us. The current situation is that he will go to sleep in his own bed, but when he wakes during the night (I'd say 90%+ of the time) he comes into our room and wants to be with me - I take him back to his room and stay with him until he is back to sleep (which is usually quite quick), but if he wakes again the same thing happens. If I stay with him then he will stay in bed quite happily. Any advice? I have been unwell recently too which doesn't help, so I need as much sleep as I can, so giving in is often the best way to get myself back to sleep asap! Of course, when you are woken it's never the same as being able to sleep right through. Thanks.

CaderMac

Hello @loubylou thanks for sharing your situation. Hopefully @SleepPractitioners will be able to offer you some wonderful hints and tips to make sure everyone in your house gets a good night's sleep! I'm sure that many other parents have similar problems at bedtime and will benefit from advice on getting their children to sleep (and stay asleep!) in their own beds! Hope you are feeling better x 

SleepPractitioners

Hi @loubylou
You say he will go to sleep in his own bed, are you sitting with him? if you are then that would be why he is waking and coming through to you, he needs you back again.If not has anything else changed since he fell asleep i.e have you turned off the hall light or closed the door, if anything has changed then that could cause the night waking as what you fall to sleep with is what you need again at waking points through the night. I know it is going to be difficult but you need to return him quickly and quietly, this means no speaking and no eye contact to his own room as he has learnt this as a behaviour now and you need to keep taking him back to break that habit, this could take around 3 weeks of giving the same constant response, but 3 weeks hard work is going to improve everyone life in the long term.
You don't say what your bedtime routine is so we have added the link for you to take a look at http://www.scope.org.uk/support/families/sleep/routine
Good luck
Maxine and Angie