Effective sleep solutions for families living with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Learn calming bedtime routines, sensory-friendly tips, screen-free habits, and natural ways to improve sleep for autistic children.
Equally, it is very important to sleep routines for children which is an all consuming challenge for families living with children with autism spectrum disorder. It is not easy at all, as many autistic children find it hard to sleep in various ways: some cannot sleep, some have fragmented sleep while there are others who wake up too early. Some children tend to be over active during the night while the rest can’t stand noise, light, fabrics or hair over their head and any emergency changes in their routine. As it happens, coping with sleep deprivation does not come easy especially with the entire family. Luckily, very little things often create positive changes in the situation.
Different preparations for bedtime in helping to achieve a good night’s sleep for kids with autism are proven as the best. Most children with this condition tend to do better when the world around them is more or less the same all the time. Keeping children occupied in certain areas of the house eases them because always there before the child goes to bed. Dinner, bath, brushing of teeth, reading and sleeping may be done in the same sequence for the child every day. It should be noted that the said approach is quite effective and breathing in and out helps the sleep of a child after a while.
Yet another prevalent issue in many households is the bad habit of using gadgets before going to bed where the screen light of phones, tablets, TV and gaming devices can result in overexcitement of one’s brain. Many parents realize that the tucking in of the child can be done more easily when screens are not used at night. It is claimed that a calm state of mind will occur if the electronic gadgets are shut down 1 hour before bedtime.
Moreover it is how the bedroom door opens out. There is a whole variety of things that the growth of a child with ASD is much influenced by. For some children this includes sounds, temperature, brightness, and in some cases, even certain types of clothing. Blocking out backlighting, providing soft lighting, and the bedroom’s pleasing silence and warm comfortable quilts could help in achieving a more peaceful sleep environment. For the purpose of ensuring that sleep interference wouldn’t occur, some family units usually use white sound equipments or low music.
Exercising during the day can also help to have a renewed sleep at night. Children who are very active during the day playing outdoor games, walking, skipping, running or any other types of physical activities tend to sleep soundly at night. But even too vigorous activities just before hitting the bed at times can prop up the children and make them more alert as opposed to getting them to rest.
The sleeping patterns may be influenced by what and when the individuals eat. Sweet foods, coffee, soda and chocolate use at the night fall might make the child become more active instead of settling down. In addition to that, one of the ways a person can easily fall asleep is taking a light dinner and having a non alcoholic drink such as a glass of warm milk to soothe.
Despite that many families struggling with autism, having comfort objects around has been observed to give them a relief. It takes blankets for children, special toys such as teddy bears, talisman pillows that help one to sleep well, and also weighted quilts to shred some of the fears. For some children, use of weighted blankets has a calming effect, but these should be used after proper instructions and also be based on the age and weight of the child.
Stimulating the child just before bed is also not a good idea. Running around, shouting, and switching on all the lights are some of the things the child may do which will prevent him or her from falling asleep easily. When such things do happen however, especially during the evenings, it is better to engage the child in quiet activities like drawing pictures, puzzles, reading a book, or even some background music.
Parents should also look out for insidious sleep deterrents. Other autistic children suffer from the likes of digestive issues, anxiety, excessive allergies to anything and sometimes sensory overload which affects the ability to sleep inconspicuously. It is worth noting that there are times that they end up getting stalled sleep due to sleep apnea or restless leg syndrome. If the sleep disturbances become severe, or continue to affect the child for long periods, it is important to seek professional medical intervention.
One good thing about parenting is that there is no rush. Many moments simply just take time to happen no matter how much so one looks forward for that moment. Still some nights will be tougher even after you have the best of breakthroughs. While striving for the best, it is always better to go steadily in the same direction. In fact searching for perfect in immediate outcomes quite often leads to unsustainable habits and poor procrastination.
Even the fulltime caregivers also deserve to be given some rest and competent care. This never-ending strain impacts most parents especially with the chronic lack of sleep, discouragement, and emotional outbursts. Some of these parenting techniques like, managerial piecework parenting, may reduce the strains of parenting such as by engaging in collaborative parenting, mother groups, mother programme© or asking other family members for support during waking hours.
For families dealing with Autism, effective approaches to solving sleep problems are usually uncomplicated, stress-free, regular, and will help to meet the individual’s sensory needs. Providing that the routines are consistent and that the child feels secure and at ease, sleep patterns often become adjusted in the child’s normal fashion.
