Steps To Tackle Sleep Disturbances In Children With Autism

Introduction
Do you often find yourself having to wake up in the middle of the night to
pacify your crying child? For children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD),
they have difficulties relaxing due to the high levels of melatonin in their body.
This may cause them to have irregular sleeping patterns and they may also have
trouble falling or staying asleep. Children may also exhibit additional symptoms
of screaming, sweating profusely, feeling fearful and experiencing shortness of
breath and it is essential that sleep disturbances are tackled at a young age. My
name is Ferrinn, and in this video, we will be guiding you through some tips
that can be used to tackle this issue.

Point 1: Ensure the safety of your child

When experiencing sleep disturbances, do ensure that your child’s safety is
being cared for. They may feel confused or perplexed after waking up abruptly
and have a high risk of engaging in dangerous behaviours such as falling off
their bed and hitting against sharp edges. Parents can ensure their safety by
covering sharp edges of furniture with child safety corner guards.

Point 2: Have a proper sleep routine

Avoid sugary drinks or food before bed time to stimulate a relaxing and stress-
free environment for your child to sleep. Remove any distracting noises or
lights present in the bedroom as well. Ensure that you know your child’s
favourite room temperature so that this will allow you to abide by their comfort
level for them to get used to it and sleep well.

Point 3: Monitor their sleep disturbance frequency

Keep a record of your child’s sleep disturbance frequency so that you can take
measures to stop or disrupt the pattern of their sleep disturbances. By doing so,
it enables you to further understand about your child’s sleeping patterns and be
able to predict future occurrences of their sleep disturbances. You may take
measures such as:
 (i) Waking them up before they begin experiencing any forms of
discomfort or before they engage in self harm behaviours
(ii) Teach your child emotional regulation skills

Conclusion
Young children aged 18 months to 6 years of age, especially boys, are more
prone to sleep disturbances. This results in their quality of sleep being
negatively affected which eventually affects their daily functioning. Using these
steps will allow you to tackle your child’s sleep disturbances and greatly help in
ensuring better sleep for your child which improves their mood for the next day.

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share it with them as well. We’ll see you in our next video, bye!