SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP as a baby and autism
You might think this is a weird subject for me to cover but actually it is really important. Especially to parents of children on the spectrum. Sleep, as you most likely know is extremely important. And children should get 12 hours a night (so they say). And if you have had a baby, you will know they wake for a feed at least once a night. They don’t sleep on schedule. Well, you might be fortunate and have a baby that does, but it’s a rare event.
When Johnathan was born I knew inside something was up with him. And ALSO that he wouldn’t sleep in the dark. Don’t ask me HOW I knew this. I just instinctively did. So I always made sure the overhead light by my bed was on. I think it was the second night I was in after he was born and one of the midwives came in and said that he was fast asleep so I could turn the light off.
My response to her was “I wouldn’t if I were you” but she did anyway. And Johnathan started screaming his head off, fast asleep. She turned it back on and he was silent. I just looked at her and shrugged my shoulders. I hadn’t done anything to make him respond the way he did. He just did. Somehow I had just known.
I will admit that I didn’t have much sleep when he was a baby. If he fell asleep before 8 or 9 I could almost guarantee he would be up at midnight or 1 or 2 and that would be him up for the WHOLE night. So how did I deal with that? Well, for us, the best thing was for me to sit up with him in the sitting room. I knew that if I was with him he would be ok through the night. But I still needed to sleep myself. And you can’t leave a baby alone. Safety is always first.
We had made the decision that there was no way we were going to sleep with our baby/ies in the bed. For my part, I knew if I was back and forward to Johnathan’s room (other end of the house) I could have a fall, which would impact our family badly. And we had got reclining sofas so we were both going to be on the sofa together with the tv on a channel for babies. He would be mesmerised by songs, noises, lights and gentle sounds from the tv and I would sit next to him with my hand on his tummy while he watched the lights and gentle sounds and lullabies there.
Now this solution to the problem is the one that we came up with. But it may not suit your family to do this. Maybe you end up sleeping in the child’s bed, or on the floor, or they come in to you. What I want to say is that you need to find the right answer for you.