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Inconsolable crying when tired / waking up for hours at night

kayla317

Member
My child has autism and is nonverbal. We have been dealing with inconsolable crying throughout the day and night with no desirable cause. We have been to doctors, specialists, ABA, and everywhere we can think if for help. The main issue we are facing is her waking up crying and staying up for about 4 hours every night. We are lost and it has been going on for months. The one thing we have noticed is that when she gets tired she starts crying. She always wakes up crying. She is 4 years old. Anybody else go through anything like this?
 
How old is the child?
What did the doctors say?
4 years old. We were Battling an ear/sinus infection for about 2 months but that has cleared up a couple weeks ago. No other physical symptoms. Possibly night terrors. But no way to know for sure because she does not have a way to communicate with us.
 
Maybe try some pretty night lights, they have the those solar ones that go on ceiling. You could tell her you are going to redo her bedroom since she is a big girl, and have her pick out some pretty soothing lights, and or a sound machine, she might enjoy that. Get a little bed tent, and put a little flashlight and book in there. And maybe let her pick out a special stuffed animal or soft blanket. Even one of these ideas may help her little mind stay occupied. I understand you may be on a tight budget, l was shocked how expensive one child was. Lol
 
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Maybe try some pretty night lights, they have the those solar ones that go on ceiling. You could tell her you are going to redo her bedroom since she is a big girl, and have pick out some pretty soothing lights, and or a sound machine, she might enjoy that. Get a little bed tent, and put a little flashlight and book in there. And maybe let her pick out a special stuffed animal or soft blanket. Even one of these ideas may help her little mind stay occupied. I understand you may be on a tight budget, l was shocked how expensive one child was. Lol
Thank you for the ideas! I will look into getting some lights. She has a weighted blanket that she likes too.
 
You are a fantastic mom, l would have loved a weighted blanket at any age. Etsy.com had panda bear lights, unicorn lights but l entered in kids string lights.
 
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I had terrible nightmares when I was that little. Very vivid, as if I was awake in my room and terrible things were happening. Do you think she might be having realistic nightmares?

Or maybe she's lonesome. Perhaps a dog that could sleep in bed with her?
 
full
We have used box fans as white noise generators...
 
full
We have used box fans as white noise generators...
Yes! A fan is great when you have a baby or small child. They want to hear the white noise that reminds them of their mother's heartbeat.

I remember my daughter would sometimes cry at naptime or bedtime, and our neighbor was in nursing school. Her bedroom was on the other side of the wall from my daughter's room. She would pat out a heartbeat sound onto the wall and it would soothe my daughter right to sleep. She apologized for it, but I thanked her, because I couldn't seem to console my daughter. The heartbeat was what soothed her.

A couple other ideas I just had: maybe a nightlight too. Nightlights all the way to the bathroom and back.

One thing my daughter really liked as a young child is that I set up a tent in her room, with a sleeping bag inside. She brought in her dollies and teddy bears, and favorite books. She slept all night in the tent. She actually went several months sleeping on the floor like that, but she didn't mind at all. She slept through the night and had imaginative fun in her tent. It was her little world. And I would often go in there with her to play or read, or even sleep some nights.

It was especially fun, because we put those glow in the dark star stickers on her ceiling, and there was a skylight in the tent, so she could lay in her sleeping bag and look up at the stars.

She also had a Glowworm toy. When she would hug it, its face would light up, and it would play soft music. She would hug it again and again, all night. That was lovely.
 
Maybe try some pretty night lights, they have the those solar ones that go on ceiling. You could tell her you are going to redo her bedroom since she is a big girl, and have her pick out some pretty soothing lights, and or a sound machine, she might enjoy that. Get a little bed tent, and put a little flashlight and book in there. And maybe let her pick out a special stuffed animal or soft blanket. Even one of these ideas may help her little mind stay occupied. I understand you may be on a tight budget, l was shocked how expensive one child was. Lol
I agree. Stuffed animals have been shown to soothe children and take away stress. Skep has helped me last night, through my troubles of sleep. Skep is medium-sized soft and short hair dog [i like dogs a lot] that doesn't heat up. Some soft toys can be irritating to my skin but skep's fur is not.

IMG_20230801_083722~2.jpg
 
My dad used to make up stories with the plushies and even make them move, they'd run away from me then they'd come to me and I'd hug them tight and I liked those games a lot.
 
I have seen a door blocking llama which was heavy, i think i will buy that too, in the summer blankets are too warm.
 
I had terrible nightmares when I was that little. Very vivid, as if I was awake in my room and terrible things were happening. Do you think she might be having realistic nightmares?

Or maybe she's lonesome. Perhaps a dog that could sleep in bed with her?
It is very possible. She wakes about the same time every night too, after 4 hours of sleep. She sleeps with me and sometimes our dog already.
 
Yes! A fan is great when you have a baby or small child. They want to hear the white noise that reminds them of their mother's heartbeat.

I remember my daughter would sometimes cry at naptime or bedtime, and our neighbor was in nursing school. Her bedroom was on the other side of the wall from my daughter's room. She would pat out a heartbeat sound onto the wall and it would soothe my daughter right to sleep. She apologized for it, but I thanked her, because I couldn't seem to console my daughter. The heartbeat was what soothed her.

A couple other ideas I just had: maybe a nightlight too. Nightlights all the way to the bathroom and back.

One thing my daughter really liked as a young child is that I set up a tent in her room, with a sleeping bag inside. She brought in her dollies and teddy bears, and favorite books. She slept all night in the tent. She actually went several months sleeping on the floor like that, but she didn't mind at all. She slept through the night and had imaginative fun in her tent. It was her little world. And I would often go in there with her to play or read, or even sleep some nights.

It was especially fun, because we put those glow in the dark star stickers on her ceiling, and there was a skylight in the tent, so she could lay in her sleeping bag and look up at the stars.

She also had a Glowworm toy. When she would hug it, its face would light up, and it would play soft music. She would hug it again and again, all night. That was lovely.
That is very sweet.
 

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