Sleep Advice for Our 9 year old

tashatmos

Since 2019 we have been seeking help for our 9 year old daughter. We think she may have Autism, ADHD and Dyspraxia. For years now she has never been good at sleeping. Due to housing issues a few years ago we were all in one room (myself, my husband and her and her younger sister), so she was used to co-sleeping. However a year on to her having her own room and bed she still has trouble. 

She finds it hard to get to sleep - which I do feel we have managed to sort with Melatonin and Magnesium supplements, and Rescue Remedy. 

The main issue is she will awake in the night sometimes 4 -5 times. She will get out of bed and come to our room, waking us. We will then need to stay with her till she falls asleep. We are all exhausted. 

We are under CAMHS and are awaiting diagnosis's. We have tried so many things and she will just come into our room through-out the night. Its like having a new born again. 

If anyone has some tips or can share any similar experiences that would be helpful. 

Thank you in advance! 

Ross_Alumni

Hello @tashatmos

Wishing you a warm welcome to the community, it's lovely to see you join us and I hope you are well today.

Thank you for telling us about your daughter and the issue you are experiencing. I can understand why this must be such a concern for you, it's very important to get a good night of rest and if your daughter isn't then that will mean you won't be either so it will be impacting multiple of you.

I wanted to let you know about Scope's Sleep Right service, which you can read about via this link. Sleep Right is a free support service, that helps parents and carers of disabled children to improve their child's sleep, and they also have a series of podcasts that you can listen to as well.

Please give the information a read and consider getting in touch with the team   You might also find it helpful to look through the other family services that Scope offer.

L_Volunteer

Hi @tashatmos. Welcome to Scope’s forum. It is great to see you have joined us. How are you today?

Thanks for reaching out to us. I always appreciate how much courage it can take to reach out, especially the first time.

From what I am hearing, you think your daughter might have autism, ADHD and dyspraxia and is struggling with sleep, despite it being a year on to her having her own room and bed.

However, you feel you have managed to sort your daughter’s difficulties with getting to sleep with Melatonin and Magnesium supplements and Rescue Remedy. On this note, have you been able to talk this through with anyone else yet, such as a GP?

Despite thinking you have managed to sort your daughter’s difficulties with getting to sleep, your daughter is still experiencing difficulties with sleep. For example, she will awake in the night 4-5 times. She will get out of bed and go to your room, waking you and you will then need to stay with her until she falls asleep meaning you are all exhausted.

Have you managed to identify your daughter’s triggers for waking up in the night? I can imagine this might be a useful starting point for reducing the sleep difficulties. Some first steps might be to make and maintain a diary or log and see if there are any common patterns which might explain the sleep difficulties. Hopefully, CAMHS will be able to support you with this when you are able to speak to them and receive diagnosis’s.

Scope has a sleep service which you might find particularly useful (at least temporarily!). It is called Sleep Right. It is a free support service, that helps parents and carers of disabled children to improve their child’s sleep. Face-to-face sessions are now available, but you can continue with sessions over the phone and online, if you prefer.

Please keep us up to date with how things are going for all of you, we are all here for all of you. You don’t have to face this, or anything else, alone if you don’t want to