Are Pukka Teas safe for teens?

[Meckity1]

Posting for traffic.

Son, who is thirteen, has a lot of issues going on, like huge list of stuff. One of which is insomnia. Is the Pukka Night Time tea safe for young teens? I read the ingredients and it contains Valerian.

Son is currently taking serious doses of paracetamol and I don't know how to google to see if that will interact with the Pukka Night Time tea.

We are doing the 'no screens before bedtime', strict routines, no caffeine (he doesn't really have it anyway), etc. We're just desperate, poor kid is falling apart.

Baths and showers can be difficult due to the physical issues he is having, and exercise is not really possible. He loathes the scent of lavender. Camomile tea wasn't as helpful as I hoped.

Thank you for your help.

@Meckity1
Have you thought of trying an essential oil diffuser? My husband suffers from stress-related seizures, and we find it helps at night. Tisserand do some soothing blends, or you could use neat lavender.

I love the Pukka teas and think there is another “nighttime” flavour that doesn’t have valerian in it - it’s vanilla and something (red box). Could you try that one instead?

My DD(9) has been struggling on and off with insomnia for around 18 months. When it is bad she is physically wrecked. I ordered melatonin online from the US (we used to live there) and if she is having a bad spell she takes it for a few nights so that she can recover a bit. I'm personally wary about her taking it long term (especially without medical supervision) because of psychological dependence, but it's hugely helpful as a short term aid and I think knowing that it is there as a back-up helps reduce her anxiety about sleep in general, which is positive. BTW it definitely isn't a placebo - she takes it with a bit of juice and the first time we used it we tried tapering it off without her knowing - she immediately said it wasn't working that night.

The home Vitamin D test is a pin prick on your finger tip, its very easy and not scary. You can get one that is processed by NHS labs and costs around £25 pounds. But as almost everyone is Vitamin D deficient after winter its worth taking, or get him to sunbathe in the garden with his shirt off. Epsom salt bathes were popular in this house and one DS has a weighted blanket.
My oldest DS has had all sorts of issues very similar to your son, ironically his insomnia was cured by going on stimulants for ADD, this took until he was 21 to work out! The overlap between mental and physical and developmental issues is a minefield in teenagers and can take ages to work out.

Keep a diary of his symptoms and any treatments and routines you try, this is useful with doctors later.