Difficulty settling at night

14 September 2018

One of our Sleep Practitioners recently helped a family who were struggling to get their daughter to bed, and to sleep.

Difficulty settling at night

14 September 2018

One of our Sleep Practitioners recently helped a family who were struggling to get their daughter to bed, and to sleep.

Difficulty sleeping
One of our Sleep Practitioners recently helped a family who were struggling to get their daughter to bed, and to sleep.

Sleep Practitioner Laura explained: “Charlotte is ten years old and has ASD. Her main issues were settling at bedtime and sleeping alone. She was taken to bed at 9:30 but this could cause huge issues and arguments, or endless delaying tactics and bedtime was stressful overall stressful.

We agreed to focus initially on introducing a calming bedtime routine and suggested implementing a temporary later bedtime. Mum began taking her to bed at the time she was naturally falling asleep with the aim of very gradually moving this backwards by 15 minutes.

This, in combination with a calming bedtime routine (we chose a massage, red light and filtered glasses to watch TV with) meant Charlotte was going to bed in a much better mood, and falling asleep without any arguments or delaying tactics.

Charlotte’s mum Judith explains how they got on:

“I found Cerebra’s Sleep Service invaluable as the advice given was tailored specifically for Charlotte’s needs, taking into account her preferences. Prior to using your service, I felt that I had explored all options and nothing worked. She was very anxious and confrontational at night and would avoid going to bed at all costs.  However, with your suggestion of removing the stressors (wash, teeth etc) outside of the one hour prior to bed and using visual cues, she is much calmer. I have a board upstairs detailing what she needs to do to the point of going to bed and the time she needs to be in her own bed.

I was concerned as she loves to watch a DVD prior to bed and I was aware that blue light was an issue with sleep. However, you reassured me that if this was what worked for her, we could work around that. On your suggestion, I purchased red filtered glasses and she wears these with pride. I also purchased red night-lights as the ones I was using had a blue light.

When you examined her sleep pattern, it was established that a natural time for her to fall asleep was 10.30pm -11.00pm, so you recommended she wind down for one hour prior to 10.45 and then watch her DVD with her filtered glasses on. We did this for a month then successfully reduced bedtime by 15 minutes for a further month. I have just reduced this again by 15 minutes and she is accepting this without question, going to bed without arguing and not delaying going to sleep by trying to play games. She is waking up in a better mood and this is helping with her self care routine.

You also suggested as she was experiencing pain in her legs that this could impact on her sleep. The GP/nurse had always put this down to growing pains. However, you gave me the confidence to question this and my podiatrist diagnosed her with hypermobility which is now being treated with physio and she has orthotics fitted. She also has daily massages. This is reducing the pain.

Once she is taken to bed, I still need to stay with her until she is asleep. In general, she falls asleep within 20-25 minutes and I am then able to leave her. Once I have a bedtime routine in place where she goes to bed at 10pm, I will work on supporting her to self soothe so she can fall asleep unaided. You kindly offered to support me at that time as this is a stressor for her and causes anxiety, as she is afraid of being alone.

I am very grateful of your help as your suggestions were not ‘the norm’ offered by other professionals I have worked with who do tend to focus on ‘bath, book, bed’, which just didn’t work for us. Charlotte’s overall well-being has improved significantly because of your help and we have a much calmer, happier household. Without your support, I am confident that my daughter’s sleep habits would not have improved. Thank you”.

Download our great new sleep booklet for more tips and techniques to get a good night’s sleep.

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