Tips to help your autistic child sleep well

Children with autism and other developmental disabilities can find it harder to fall asleep and remain sound asleep.

All these missed amounts of sleep affect not only the baby, who may become easily irritated and likely to have behavioral issues, but also their sleep-deprived parents.

You’re not the only one if you’re having trouble getting your child to fall asleep or remain asleep at night.

Parents of children with autism often worry about sleep loss. Children often struggle to fall asleep, sleep better, or wake up too early in the morning hours.

Sleep deprivation can harm a family’s physical and mental health, reduce a child’s capacity to adapt and concentrate and make them nervous.

What Does Autism Mean?

Autism Spectrum Disorder or ADS is a complicated brain development disorder characterized by chronic deficits in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and confined behaviors.

Each person’s experience with Autism Spectrum Disorder and the consequences of their symptoms is unique.

Autism is reported to happen in one out of every 59 children, as per the research. In addition, autism spectrum disorder is three to four times more frequent in boys than in girls. Many girls with ASD have less visible symptoms than boys.

Autism is a chronic illness that lasts a lifetime. Many children with ASD, on the other hand, go on to lead self-sufficient, active, and satisfying lives. The facts presented here certainly relate to children and teenagers.

What Does The Research Say About The Sleep Problems With ASD Children?

Sleep issues affect 40 percent to 80 percent of children with Autism, including sleep onset disturbance, shortened sleep period, and extended night wakings being extremely common.

Sleeping discomfort, sleep agitation, late afternoon sleepiness, early rising, co-sleeping, poor sleep quality, and parasomnias are all sleep-related issues. Children with ASD also have several sleep problems at the same time.

Besides that, relative to sleep issues in children with basic development, sleep problems in children with ASD are more frequent.

The Common Disturbances Of Sleep Deprivation With ASD Children

Everyone needs 7-9 hours of sleep each night to feel fresh and productive during the day. The majority of children with ASD have difficulty falling asleep.

Due to fatigue, ASD symptoms worsen, making it difficult to sleep the next night. The cycle goes on. As a result, many people are affected.

Since the most frequent sleep problems are connected to falling and staying asleep, a sleep issue can be classified in a variety of ways:

Insomnia: the inability to fall asleep and/or remain asleep.

Circadian Rhythm Sleep-Wake Cycle Disorders

Sleep-Related Breathing Disorders: apnea, groaning, snoring

Rapid Eye movement: They spend around 15% of their sleep duration in the rapid eye movement (REM) period, critical for memory learning and retention.

Hypersomnia: an overabundance of sleepiness (during daytime)

Too much movement during nighttime sleep, also known as…
 
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