Thursday, February 16, 2012

Who Wouldn't Like an Afternoon Nap?: We often hear about teenagers not getting enough sleep, but I wonder, does when they get the sleep matter? My son comes home from school and internship exhausted and often naps for a few hours. He goes to bed at night at a normal time, but often stays up listening to music or watching videos on his iPad. His pediatrician didn't seem to think there was any problem with that, but his neurologist clearly felt he was unable to go to sleep at night because of his naps, and he needed to nap because of his nighttime sleeplessness, and clearly the naps should stop. My feeling is that he's tired because managing his behavior at school and internship is stressful, he falls asleep while relaxing afterward, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, and if the sleeplessness at night was bothering him he'd let us know. It will all be a moot point if he gets a job at some point, as has been talked about a few times with the transition coordinator, and can't nap; but for now ... is it so bad to let him sleep during the day if it doesn't get in the way of homework or activities? Heck, if I could schedule a midday snooze, my head would be on that pillow.