Autism & Second-hand Insomnia

Like many special needs parents, my sleep has become disordered because my son's sleep is disordered.

Kinda like second-hand insomnia, but without the 'pre-loved' label.

I've had 18 years of erratic nights, spiced with the extra added flavour of  anti-depressants, peri-menopause (which sadly is not a Japanese tempura) and mental health banana slices.

It's an interesting stew of wakeful psychobabble.

I got fed up of it, so I went back to basics using CBTi (cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia) to clean up my filthy bedroom habits.

That was all very well.

I addressed my negative, spin-cycle worrying.

I (unenthusiastically) attended to exacerbating behaviours like having irregular bedtimes/wake times, drinking caffeine and alcohol, and cutting out day-time naps.

But at 4.30am this morning, I realised I had neglected to factor in the autistic elephant in the wakeful bedroom. 

I was jolted awake by my son blazing his phone torch into my left eyeball, with a lusty request for hot chocolate.

I manfully resisted dismembering the phone (and the son) into tiny, tiny pieces.  This was no mean feat, when I'd just been stabbed in the brain by Google laser beams.

He was dispatched back to his room (without hot chocolate). I realised that at no point does CBTi address the issue of being burned in the cerebrum by your kid in the witching hours.

Just sayin', CBTi.