# 4 year old kicking all night long. HELP!



## TripMom (Aug 26, 2005)

I am cracking. DS came back in to our bed when we transitioned him to a big boy bed before his sibs were born - about 2.5 years old. I fought it for a while. But to be honest - I have been accepting and loving co-sleeping with DS for 1.5 years now. Until recently - he is kicking and kicking and kicking us. I think he has just grown - and the 3 of us in this seemingly huge Cal King is not big enough. I NEVER GET TO FALL IN TO DEEP SLEEP as a 4 year old foot shakes me awake every several minutes or so.

Anyone else go through this? WDYD? HELP? DS is showing no signs of weaning from us anytime soon - so a transition would have to be forced by me. Anyone BTDT?

I AM CRACKING . . . . again.


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## TripMom (Aug 26, 2005)

No help for me?


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## TripMom (Aug 26, 2005)

I just saw the thread where a lot of people are co-sleeping with 4+ers. Have you all learned to sleep through the kicking? Are you suffering in silence for the 'cause? Is my DS the only one who does this?







:

I think I need my own icon - it would be this







- with DS foot in my head. We can even animate it so the foot goes back and forth knocking my head back and forth all night long









Help me







I've totally lost it


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## Fay (Sep 21, 2005)

OK, I'll jump in. We co-sleep with our autistic 5 year old, who has sleep issues aplenty.

Lots of things may cause kicking. The easiest answer is to see if it's a bowel issue -- does he make a BM in the morning or at night? If he can do it before bedtime, his tummy will be calmer while sleeping and the kicking may be reduced. Make sure his bladder is COMPLETELY empty, too.

Another possibility is room temp. My DS kicks off his blanket, then gets cold at 3:30AM and thrashes around shivering. DH and I have learned to keep him lightly covered while half asleep -- even covering just part of of his body keeps him just warm enough to sleep peacefully.

The most difficult culprit to track down is dietary. Restless legs may be caused by a mineral deficiency, usually some combination of calcium, magnesium, potassium and zinc. Half a banana (rich in potassium) for breakfast consistently prevents nighttime leg cramps for me and DS. You may also try buying orange juice (naturally rich in magnesium) enriched with calcium and/or zinc, and offering that to DS for lunch. I've even heard of children who kick all night if they consume any sugar after 6 pm, and some autistic children who thrash in bed after eating gluten and/or casein for dinner...food dyes, esp. red dye #40, are another common cause for kicking and restlessness. We talk a lot about these sleep issues in the autism community, and every child seems to have a different food sensitivity. Be aware of what your DS is eating, esp. for dinner, and see if you can find a pattern in his nighttime behavior.

You can fix this problem, you just need to do a little detective work.







Sweet dreams!


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## TripMom (Aug 26, 2005)

Thank you Fay. I am on it!


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## WuWei (Oct 16, 2005)

We have ds's twin bed up against our king bed. That gives us a lot of room. The twin is pushed against the wall so ds can wiggle around a lot and not fall out.

Pat


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## mogit (May 4, 2004)

My ds was about 4 1/2 (and the size of a 6 y.o.) when I finally decided I had had enough of being kicked and rolled over on all night long. I was missing sleep and waking up short-tempered. My attempts at moving DS to a sleeping bag or air mattress on the floor failed; he wanted to be in the same bed as me and DD (then about 1 y.o.).

Finally I hit upon the idea of sub-dividing the bed with a Snug-Tuck pillow: I ran the pillow lengthwise down the mattress, leaving DS a small strip of his own on one side of the bed. Now he stays on his side and kicks and squashes the pillow instead of me. Yet he feels included in the family bed and can even reach over and hold hands if he wants to. It's great!


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## Fay (Sep 21, 2005)

We also have a king + twin mattress arrangement and make use of body pillows (don't flame me, but body pillows are available at Walmart for $8.88!).

I forgot to mention the single most helpful thing for my DS. When we started mixing in 1 tsp of flax meal into his applesauce every day, he started sleeping like a rock through the night, for about 9 consecutive hours. Flax oil and other omega-3 supplements help him with this, too, but I don't know why it works -- in my research I've found nothing connecting better sleep with omega-3.

Hmmm, I was thinking of other sleep solutions, but they've all slipped my mind now...


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## MOM2ANSLEY (May 19, 2003)

dd does it too, I keep a body pillow between us. My worst experience was when she fully kicked my super engorged breast...OOOOWWWWWEEEEE!!!!


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