have you ever looked at maybe keeping her up a little later at night? it may sound weird but i know that my nephew had that problem and it was because he was goiong to bed too early, and gettin up before the worms. hope that might help, good luck!

Benadryl can have a "rebound-effect" in some people, as described by Sarah's post, above (I'm a pediatric RN). Usually, when a child (or adult) has a rebound reaction, it is pretty pronounced--there is no sleep effect from the drug at all, it just causes the person to become very hyper. It is a good idea to consult with your pediatrician if your child has that type of reaction, as the pediatrician may be able to make another recommendation. Also good for the doc to know about, in the event that your child is hospitalized--they probably need to avoid prescribing it to him/her during a hospitalization.

My eleven year old son who is ASD also requires very little sleep and I thought he was the only one. We have used Melatonin to help but I don't really think there is a lot you can do. We have tried putting him to sleep at 9pm but then he up at 5am and does not have to be to school until 8:30. By then he sleepy again, so we have figured out if we put him to sleep at 11pm he will sleep until about 7am. I know 11 is way to late but it works for us. Good luck!!!

For the past three years for Brianna (ASD-PDD-NOS), we have used a chewable Melatonin from Trader Joe's which she chews about 15 minutes before bedtime. We use a decompression routine where she is on the "throne" with quiet music for a short block of time, then takes a comfortable shower, and gets dried, creamed, etc. She brushes her teeth and we talk quietly for a few minutes. Then she takes her favorite Disney blanket which sits on the side of the bed and we say our prayers, then pull up the sheet and we use a weighted blanket as the cover for the past three years. Hers weighs 9 lbs (her weight now is approaching 80 lbs).

Her bedtime is 9-9:30 and her wake up time is 7-7:30. The weighted blanket and melatonin have helped immensely. She sleeps through the night 85-90% of the typical month. If she goes to bed earlier than 9:00-disaster for sleeping the night as she is done and up at an ungodly hour and after two or three nights, you can park a car in the circles under my eyes.

My son has some vocab but has a hard time expressing himself. He is 6 and super active and hard time getting to sleep and sometimes staying asleep. We tried giving him Melatonin and it helped getting him to sleep, but after a week or so he started waking up in the middle of the night 3 or 4 am and frightened and sometimes crying uncontrolably. It was super disturbing and he couldn't say why. He would bang his head on the wall too.
I spoke to a friend who's 56 and I knew she had said she'd had side effects from Melatonin. I asked what and she said that she'd get to sleep fine and then wake up panicked in the middle of the night or angry or anxious and not know why. She thought she was loosing her mind. She stopped taking it and all that went away.
She still had trouble getting to sleep so a pharmasist suggested "Calms Forte". She and my son have had no problems with this homeopathic over the counter sleep aid. It is non addicting and natural.
I give him one pill crushed up in a snack an hour before bedtime. It helps him calm down enough to get to sleep. He doesn't always sleep immeadiatly, but it is a lot faster than with no sleep aid. No side effects either. He sleeps calmly the entire night! He's been doing this for a month so far.
Good luck to you!