Adventures in Autism

Sleep. It is one of those things moms tend to covet, especially when their children are very young. I remember when B was an infant, people always asked, “How does he sleep? Is he a good sleeper?” and things like that. Every mom gets those questions about their infants, I suppose. It is expected that new moms are sleep deprived and it is a good icebreaker as well.

Many individuals with autism have sleep issues. I have met moms who have children that sleep only a few hours each night, or stay up for days on end without sleep. I count myself lucky that B does tend to sleep the typical eight hours a night, for the most part.

Up until recently, if someone asked me if B had sleep issues, I would answer no. I have never thought of him as being a problem sleeper. Recently I was asked if he slept through the night. I surprised myself when I realized I could not recall the last time he had slept through the night. He wakes up every single night, without fail. He is easy to get back to sleep–in fact, most of the time he does not wake me up at all–but he does not sleep through the night.

It never occurred to me until a few weeks ago that this was unusual for a nine year old child. It is just how he is, and it doesn’t cause too many issues, so I never think about it. When his doctors ask me how he sleeps, I always answer that he is a good sleeper. Now I wonder about that. Am I doing him a disservice by overlooking his sleep issues? I think I might have to address this at his next appointment.

As an aside, since he got his new bed , his sleeping has improved, but he still ends up in my bed every night. I would dearly love to break him of this habit. Any suggestions?