Sleep problems

rockycianciola · January 2017

Hi
We have a 4 year old boy who has recently been diagnosed with autism. He used to be really good at going to bed would just get in his bed and go to sleep and would not wake until 6-7 in the morning. The last couple of months his sleep has been really bad. He will get a bit upset going to bed and will eventually fall asleep. After a couple of hours he will wake in the night but run in the room quite frightened. I'm not sure if he has had a bad dream but he comes in crying. Every night Luca will end up sleeping in our bed. We have tried to put in him back in his bed but then ends up getting up again. I don't know why all of a sudden his sleeping patterns have changed so much since he has been a baby he has always slept so well

Many thanks

Claire

[Deleted User] · January 2017

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SleepPractitioners · January 2017

Hi @rockycianciola
Children's sleep patterns can often change for no apparent reason, you say he is frightened and crying when he comes to your room remember bad dreams are a normal occurrence we shouldn't feed into his fear by speaking to him about it as this will only strengthen the fear. what you need to do is take him straight back to his room and put him back to bed with minimal fuss and no talking or even eye contact.
You haven't said what you do before bedtime here is a link for an example of a good bedtime routine http://www.scope.org.uk/support/families/sleep/routine
Good luck
Maxine and Angie

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