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Hi everyone and thanks for visiting our blog. My wife and I created this blog to chronicle our experience while raising a son with Asperger's syndrome. Since our son was diagnosed with an ASD at age 5, we've had a lot of questions. Lucky for us we have a great support network in place. And our blog gives us an opportunity to share what we've learned with our readers. We hope you find our blog informative and interesting. Thanks again for visiting.


"It seems that for success in science and art, a dash of autism is essential." Dr Hans Asperger 1906-1980



Thursday 12 July 2012

SLEEPING IN THE SUMMER

Jacob and Shannie arrived home safe and sound on Tuesday afternoon.  And they had a great time at Jacob's aunt's house.  Although they had lots of fun playing and swimming, Jacob still wouldn't fall asleep at a reasonable time.  Then I began to think about how little Jacob actually slept at night and I realised that the summer vacation makes it very hard to sleep properly, which is already a bit of an issue for Jacob.      

Firstly, Jacob's off school for two months.  So the routine of having a bath and going to bed by 9PM is totally out the window.  I mean, it's still light outside at 9PM.  So we often let Jacob stay up past his bedtime.  Even during the school year when Jacob would get up at 7 in the morning, he was still awake at 11 or 12 o'clock at night.  And now in the summer, it's become even worse.  So we put Jacob in bed by 10 and then we stay up for a while watching TV or blogging.  Now more often than not, Jacob is up past midnight all the time. 

Then when you factor in that my work season generally slows down in the summer, we're almost on a backward schedule.  If I sleep in to 9AM, then I'm guaranteed to be up until 2AM.  It doesn't matter what I do, I still can't fall asleep.  This is very strange because I can usually fall asleep anywhere.  But since I'm not getting up at 6:30 every day, I'm just not that tired.  Unless of course Shannie and I are trying to watch a movie, then I usually doze off and miss a portion of the film.

Then when we consider getting up between 7 and 8 everyday, it just doesn't feel like summer.  Aren't we supposed to sleep in?  Or is it that I'm getting older and require less sleep?  So we try to keep Jacob active and busy throughout the day by going swimming or playing in the park.  But all that does is make me even more tired, yet I still can't sleep well.

I often wonder if I'll turn out like my dad and start getting up at 4AM every day for no good reason.  When I was young, all I did was sleep and sleeping until noon was very common, especially during the summer break.  Maybe it's the Asperger's that prevents Jacob from sleeping.  I've read many things online and on people's blogs that kids like ours just don't sleep that much.  So tonight I'm going to take Jacob swimming for a couple hours and then hopefully we'll both sleep good.  Then maybe we can all get on a more appropriate schedule.

4 comments:

  1. Sleeping has always been an issue with my son. From not being able to go to sleep at all to sleeping all the time. Right now he sleeps too much. When he's on ADD med everyday, he sleeps too little. ADD meds seem to screw sleep schedules up. Melatonin helps when he would take it, which wasn't often. He needs the opposite of Melatonin these days! Good luck with Jacob. Exercise and staying active helped my son sleep better. When he was younger, I had more control of those things.

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    1. I guess there's not much you can do when your child is on meds. We try the physical activity thing, but it doesn't always work. Jacob and I have gone for hour long walks and he still won't sleep. I'm sure he'll come around soon enough.

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  2. Lily actually sleeps pretty well. She is ALWAYS up early. The latest she has ever gotten up is 8 a.m., but it's usually anywhere from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m., but she also falls right to sleep at 8:00 ish. . . and mostly sleeps through the night.

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    1. Getting up between 5 and 7 is pretty early, but bedtime at 8 sounds pretty good. We're just not that lucky.

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