If you've been following me for any length of time, you know sleep has always been a huge struggle for us (mostly Noah). It began when he was about 2, and it's been a battle ever since. He wants to be nocturnal, and any time I attempt to change up his sleep schedule? It totally backfires. I've been at the end of my rope. Just so desperate to have a normal routine and function with the rest of the world.
Brad is very spontaneous. His whole family is. His nieces and nephews would be up all hours of the night and still go to school the next day. So a schedule is kind of a foreign concept for him. He just rolls with whatever.
I, on the other hand, thrive on routine. I like knowing what to expect. I stay on top of things when I'm on a routine... the house is cleaner, dinners are made on time, and stuff just gets done.
This huge difference in our personalities has been the source for lots of compromising. I've learned to chill out and enjoy veering from a schedule. He's had to learn that if you say you're going to be somewhere, you've made that commitment. You have to be there.
So Noah? Yeah, he's our little curveball. Kids with autism like routine, yet his day has zero routine.
At Noah's yearly evaluation with the owner of the therapy company he goes to, she asked me what I'd like to see improve with him. Sleep was my first answer.
I've told my mom so many times, that if someone could just tell me WHAT to do, I'd do it. But at this point, I felt very helpless. I was totally out of ideas... weighted blankets, shut his door at night, use a noise machine (he's had one since birth), give him melatonin, let him take a nap, don't let him take a nap... basically, I'd done it all and felt like there was no hope. This was our life from now on.
Until this week.
I sat down with his speech therapist and OT on Tuesday. They brought up the issue of sleep. They felt it was definitely time to tackle it. We can't live our lives separate from the rest of the world forever, and they've seen what happens when you don't deal with it early on. They gave me a plan, a schedule to follow, and some ideas on what to do when he throws it all off.
Since Tuesday, we've been up by 10am every day (which, don't laugh, is early for us). Last night, he was out at 10pm (usually, this means he'll just use it as a nap and wake up at midnight) and slept all the way to 8:15am this morning.
Y'all have no idea how excited I am about this. It means that school (one day) may be a possibility for him. It means that we can go back to church, he can go on morning play dates, have breakfast in the morning instead of at noon, and that there's an actual flow to our day.
Since he's gone to bed early this week, I now get some down time at night too. Brad and I already watched two movies this week. Is this how most other people live? Because I'm a fan. :)
4 comments:
I *almost* laughed at the 10am thing. :) I hope a better schedule becomes your new norm! xo
Yay!! And kudos to your therapists!
How old is Noah now? We had sleep issues with M and I think he is getting close to the age when it finally normalized for her. I hope that this is the case for both your sakes.
My husband was the spontaneous one early on, and I was the one who always needed a plan. After 20+ years, we've finally settled into something of a routine. In our case, we need outside entities to force us into a schedule. The kids have to catch the bus at a certain time, dinner needs to be started at 4p so they can eat on time, etc. The twins and DJ are pretty good at keeping to their schedules, even during the summer. As for me, without a job everything falls apart! I get up at 10:30a and end up falling off to sleep around 2a.
What did you do differently?!! You didn't really say? :-)
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