Thinking about melatonin?

Sleep has been fairly absent in our past.  Our beautiful kids have a variety of challenges and autism and ADHD are among them.  This has resulted in poor sleep for most of the family for most of the time.  A few years ago, David started on melatonin.  It was not an easy decision to make or an easy prescription to get and in the end didn't work for us.  But if you are thinking about helping you or someone you love get to sleep so they can wake up to a good morning, here's some information on it for you.

A sleep clinic with a small autistic boy

An estimated 50-90% of autistic people have difficulties with sleep and our six year old son, David, is one of them. A small child who is not aware of danger being up every single night affects the whole family - and most usually me. After trying everything including no blue light, weighted blankets and a year on melatonin, we were referred for a sleep study at Evelina Children’s Hospital at St Thomas & Guys Hospital in London.

To the parents who thought my child was a genius

Ladies, picture the scene.  You are pregnant and have come in from a lovely walk with your partner, to enjoy a (caffeine free) Latte in your favourite coffee shop.  As you perch on your bar stool and think that these days the bump could do with a bit more support, you glance over to see three kids and two adults sat on a set of comfy leather sofas and smile.

After 4 million minutes, it's finally time to say farewell to dummies

No, you read that right.  It's taken over 4 million minutes, or over 3,000 days, indeed over eight years for us to be dummy free in our house.  In that time President Obama was elected (twice), we've had several economic crises, Twlilight, the Lib Dems in and the Lib Dems out, Twilight was replaced by many with The Hunger Games and we are on the verge of Brexit.  It's been a while and I cannot even imagine how many dummies we have bought over this time.  There were at least 20 in the house the day they got thrown out - that was last Saturday.

The difficulties of sleeping alone

When my partner is out or away I'm not very good at going to bed. The children tend to go to bed a bit later.  I have a bizarre dinner like cereal, or baked beans with cheese on them - if I haven't already eaten with the kids at their meal time. I watch movies - more than one.  And I got to bed very late... when I'm tired so when I get into bed I fall straight asleep.

Autism Parenting: Probably the best 'view' in the world

Can you think of the best 'view' in the world?  I bet it's not the same as mine.

I've been fortunate enough to see beautiful sunsets over electric blue seas and sparkling snow covered mountains but I've never had a view as precious as the one I had one evening last week. 

5 ways to get sleep when you are kept awake

I've spoken to so many new parents, parents of children with additional needs and carers, whose primary issue of the day is that they are exhausted. Every mother reads about 'baby brain' as the baby keeps you up at night but no two kids are the same. Some babies sleep through from a few weeks, others a few months and despite efforts some kids need help for years through their life.

The slippery slope of medicating my kids

My boys are not in any physical pain. They are not bleeding, their organs aren't failing, they have no broken bones. They very rarely get colds or flu. But this afternoon, I'm visiting another medical professional seeking more drugs for one of my sons.

Autism and sleep: The miracle of light through a curtain

I slowly blinked my eyes. That can't be right, can it? As I came to, I realised that I was blinking because there was light shining through the crack in the curtains. Surely that's not possible? Did I sleep through the night?

Without an ASD diagnosis, we would not

It appears we are some of the lucky ones. Our boys were both diagnosed with ASD by the time they were four years old and they both received appropriate support from services, organisations and in their different school settings.

Understanding autistic siblings - it's starting with sleep

Many kids with autism have sleeping difficulties.  We've been dealing with them for many years.  In '5 tips to get more sleep when you have autistic kids', it seemed that one of the hardest things to deal with when you have autism in the family is exhaustion. There are many suggestions for helping kids with autism sleep. Sensory aids such as weighted blankets, routine changes or in some cases melatonin supplements.