Sleep is a precious commodity in short supply when you have young children, but it becomes even more scarce with a child on the spectrum. We struggled with our son at night for years both to fall asleep and stay asleep. Sleep deprivation magnifies all your other struggles, because you are irritable and on edge. Getting a good night’s sleep is important for your and your child’s mental and physical health.
As always, we are not experts but we have spent two years figuring out what works for us. Here is our NIGHT-NIGHT PROTOCOL (at least that's what I told Alexa to call it).
Consistent timing is helpful but every family has fluctuations in their daily routine. We found that as long as we are consistent in the steps of our routine, we can start it as early or late as we need (within reason). There is a point of no return where your child is too sleepy and they refuse to go to sleep even though they are exhausted.
After supper, we have Wyze Smart Bulbs that are scheduled to gradually dim and shift to a warm white light. We currently use them in our family room and bathroom. Having this consistently dimmer and warmer light helps all of us wind down.
We also use essential oils. While there are many opinions on essential oils, we have discovered they are helpful for us. You can put our story in the “anecdotal evidence” for essential oil use. We had tried melatonin, but our son had vivid nightmares while using it. We also tried a sleep supplement, but it was difficult to get him to take it consistently.
A family member had been into essential oils for years, and she had given us a basic starter kit. While doing research on sleep, we found that some of the basic oils we had could be diffused to help with sleep. Oils we diffuse include lavender and Calm (a Young Living blend). We diffuse oils in our family room, and spray a light mist of lavender oil, water, and witch hazel in our son’s bedroom. We were skeptical at first, but its hard to argue with the results of the last six months.
After bath time, we apply Sleepyize (another essential oil blend from Young Living) to our son’s feet and back. When we began using it, we were skeptical and didn’t expect much. After two weeks, our son consistently slept through the night. For the last six months, we have routinely slept through the night, with the exception of sickness and the occasional bad dream.
Sleep experts discourage screen use around bedtime, and we usually put our tablet away before bath time. However, we have one YouTube lullaby video that is a must at bedtime. You can check it out at https://youtu.be/LdQJw5S4nAQ. We snuggle with Winston (check out our post on Winston the Giraffe here) while watching our fish.
In addition to our routine, we use a sound machine and blackout curtains.
Each child is different and our routine isn’t perfect for everyone, but it works for us. Hopefully, this will help you find your perfect night time routine. Below are some links to products we mentioned in this post.
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