We use Melatonin from time to time but keep in mind that it is short-acting and will help someone GET to sleep but not STAY asleep. There is a caveat, however... look for a Melatonin product that is SLOW RELEASE. You may have some luck with it :-) I've also been told by a developmental paediatrician that Melatonin works best when one is in the dark as it is the absence of light that stimulates our bodies to naturally produce its own Melatonin. Please let me know how you make out :-)

routine works for us, bath, meds, bed...but before he was having night terrors with hallucinations CAUSED BY Singulair...now we give him singulair in the mornings and he has no problems at all. MANY drugs will cause hallucinations in autistic children and restlessness. Cut out any sugar or caffein after lunch or all together as well. I give my son Vanilla Soy Milk at bedtime...Good luck!

I find that melatonin given at like one hour before bed is the BEST thing for my Aspie son. He would sleep for about 3-4 hours a night and the melatonin keeps him asleep.

I think we tried everything but standing on our heads to try to keep my son asleep. He still has trouble going to sleep and staying asleep. Some of the meds that he has tried gave him nightmares and that really didn't help. He's on a pretty good combo now, one especially for sleep. I don't like to rely on meds too much, but after years of not sleeping well, we had to try something!

Ask for a sleep study. The sleep cycle is being interupted before he can get into a good rem sleep it sounds like. For my two youngest the answer was simple but scary...I did try melatonin with success...and since it was an over the counter "natural supplement" i figured that = safe....my kids had enlarged (not infected..just born with large tonsils) obstructing their air way..the doctor said the sleep cleycle is interrupted when the brain releases a signal that breating has become compromised...waking the person....the melatonin masked it and had them sleep through it...very dangerous...they got the tonsils out...this may not be why your son wakes up...but better to be safe than sorry...demand the sleep study...the moral of the story...ask a doctor before you give any sulplements