Tantrums at night Alex begun to wake around midnight and have a complete crying fit. He typically wakes between 2-4 with a soiled diaper, but he dry as can be when he wakes up. We typically have to him a back rub and sippy cup for him to calm down any thoughts ?Are you sure he's awake?  Can it be night terrors?  Kids will appear awake, but they really aren't.  My daughter had these for years, almost every night, begining about age 3.  She typically would begin screaming at about 10:30 to 11:30pm about 1.5-3 hours after going to sleep.  Psy. said that coincided with REM sleep, and was typical for night terrors.  Nothing really helped them stop, but we could sometimes calm her down fairly quickly.  She never remembered them in the morning.  When one of my boys does this I usually pick him up and carry him to a room where he isn't expecting to be, like the living room or my bedroom, and turn on the lights.  The change of scenery sort of "shocks" him awake (in a mild way) and then he usually wants to go straight back to sleep.  When it works it's like magic. My NT daughter did this too, except that she was better at communicating why she was crying. I think it may be night terrors also- my son started them at about 2.5 years and has them off and on all the time. *********I noticed that every time I tried Melatonin for sleep he had them- note this in case he is on it********** Otherwise do you think he may want attention? My son wakes crying sometimes wanting to go play or hugs, etc. Hope that helps......... If they are systematic it sounds like Night terrors.  My DS goes through phases of them and I've always said these are the worst component of his "issues".  I realize they are not ASD related but a lot of ASD kids have them.  Here are some tips: 1) I was hestitant but it's the 1 sure fire thing that works for us.  Night terrors happen about 2 hours into your REM sleep cycle.  Go into his room and wake him up briefly about 1.5 hours after he falls asleep.  Just enough for him to sit up and respond.  Then let him go right back to sleep.  At first I thought this was so cruel.  But NTs are evil all on their own. 2)  Make sure he is not wearing socks to bed.  Over heating can cause night terrors. 3)  For us, these are the things that have helped snap him out of a night terror; the tv, cool wash rag on his feet, standing in front of the freezer (make sure he's buddled up first )- the point is not to make him cold but to snap him out of the NT. With my DS, 75% of the time there's not a darn thing we can do.  All you can do is keep him safe.  I will often put him on the ground and he flaps his body around like he's possessed.  The scariest stuff I've witnessed in my life (Honest).  I simply follow him and block furniture with my legs so he doesn't hurt himself.  One time he had a NT that lastest about 40 minutes before he jumped up (eyes completely closed) and ran face first into the sliding glass door.  I bawled my eyes out.  And even that didn't wake him up.  Hopefully you don't have to experience this severe of a NT.   Also, my DS gets NTs before and after he has the flu.  Don't quite understand it but it is what it is.  I unfortunately know more than I care to about NTs.  Feel free to PM me any time.  You can have an EEG done to verify it.  But all our doctors (including our neuro) told us an EEG would be a waste cuz there's nothing they can do for them anyway.
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