:rolleyes: :confused:

I have a 12 yr. old autistic son who still wants to sleep with us (mom and dad). Does anyone have the same problem ? Maybe you could help us. This is a very hard habit to break.

Thanks,

ausomemom. Thanks so much for sharing your experience. We live in the chicago metropolitian area also. Tony's social worker told us , You just have to contiuallly bring him back to his room ..I must get up at least 20 times a night. It is like having a baby again. It is just nice to know I am not alone.

I to have the problem with my son sleeping with me. We can put him back in his bed ten times but he doesn't stay! I from the get go always put him in his crib or pack 'n' play. Even when we would go camping he still wouldn't sleep with us alway always the packnplay or crib. I have never brought him in our bed. But one he just crawled in and hasn't left.ha. He goes to bed every night in his bed but......I wish both of you good luck and if you two figure the trick out share please!

We put 2 twin beds in Little Paul's room a few years ago he's 7 now and at first they were side by side. but with separate sheet sets, over time we moved the beds further apart finally making a L shape with them against two walls, it has allowed him to learn to sleep in his own bed but also while learning that skill it was easier for me to sleep next to him with my own sheet set just patting him if he woke. I do sleep in the room with him with the door locked high up on the inside to keep hom from wandering as Paul is nonverble and could not call out to us for help at night he also has seizures and If I'm in the room I hear his bed shake when he has one.

I think it really depends on the kid. I can't remember how long it took. I know we took a few steps backwards along the way. Paul was always climbing in our bed and disturbing our sleep. trying to put him in his own bed resulted in my laying down with him usually in some akward position and then trying to slip further away from him while not waking him. often finding myself half on half off his bed only to have him reach out pull me back on the bed and starting over. I was exhausted. By getting two twin beds to put next to each other, I had my own bed to sleep in and with separate sheets on the beds he got use to not feeling me right next to him, skin to skin. as he slept longer alone I tried moving the beds apart. to be honest more then once in the beginning I would push my bed against his at 2 in the morning to get a good nights sleep. We use no bedframe ( I was afraid Paul's jumping on the bed would break a frame and did not want him crawing under a frame) just the really high boxspring and mattress sets. He sleeps 8:30 till 6am most nights now alone, but if he does wake I usually just touch his head and quietly say MaMa's here and he goes back to sleep. Good luck keep us posted.

Ausomemom2, good luck with the sleeping issue. That 2nd twin bed will come in handy for son #2 someday. I wish Paul could sleep in his own room and my husband and I in ours but this arrangement is working out well. we are all getting a good nights sleep. my husband sometimes sleeps in Paul's extra bed so I can have the luxury of sleeping in a room by myself. We also if for some reason I have to be away over night do not want Paul to be dependent on just me at night. My father died Aug. 13th and I had to go out of state for close to a week. Little Paul accepted dad in his room in my place nicely. By the way you have to get creative to maintain the marital ( if you know what I mean, wink wink) side of marriage but remember if there's a will theres a way.

My son is 12 years old . Anybody with an older child with this problem. Any tricks we can use to keep him in his bed

i had no idea this was an autism issue! we thought it was because his mother always had him sleep in the bed with her! Aaron gets up and comes in our bed almost every night. usually about 4 am. we have a king size bed so i just scoot over and let him in since we get up a little after 5 anyway. he is on a new allergy med now, zyrtec, and it makes him very sleepy so getting him to sleep is no longer a problem. not sure yet if this is a good or bad thing. we are still learning all the aspects of this affliction and it seems that every day a behavior we have noticed is a symptom of autism that we are having to deal with.

I also have a 12 year old son we have finally gone to letting him sleep on the
couch. It is so hard because every sound wakes him up and as you all probably know once their up they are up for a while. We have gone to giving him unisom and that seems to be helping

Kathy

Hello. I am brand new to this board, and I posted yesterday about any Chicago/suburb residents and schools. We most likely will have to move to Chicago, and I am trying to get an idea of some good areas to look into (I did a search on "Chicago" and one of your posts mentioned it). Anyway, I have a high-functioning autistic boy in the 4th grade. Do you have any information/opinions on what Chicagoland areas to look into first? Thanks for any information.

*Edited....I thought this was a private messege and doesn't really relate to subject.

Chris