Melatonin for 7 year old? Are the benefits worth the risk?

[SpinningTops]

DD is 7. IMO she doesn't get enough sleep. We take her to bed at 7, bedtime story and usually all tucked up by 7:30. It takes her until 9:30 / 10 to get to sleep. She can't switch off.

If we keep her up later it still takes 2 hours for her to get to sleep so just pushes it later. She has been like this since about 4.

She's active in the day, doesn't have screens other than a couple of days a week where she'll have an hour or so of TV before dinner so not down to screen time.

She's up at 6:30/7am most days, a bit later on weekend.

She's away with the fairies most of the time, struggles to concentrate but I think this is down to probable dyslexia.

I wonder whether it's worth speaking to the GP about trying melatonin to help her drift off and if it will benefit her. I'm not sure of risks, but I'm sure there must be some.

Anyone have similar situation and tried it / decided not to try it?

I'm following as I'm in an almost identical situation.

Same age
Same issue with sleep, going to sleep eventually at about the same time
Yawning through things in school
Away with fairies
Very very likely dyslexic.

Hey younger sibling does get melatonin (and enough in the bottle for both kids). I don't, but it's obviously very tempting at times 😂

Feel your pain- could have written an identical post myself! DD has a GP appt next week which we are hoping will result in a sleep clinic referral and/or melatonin
She has also had 9.30-10pm bedtimes most nights since reception age...9-9.15 is a good night!
She is also in the process of an ADHD assessment.
But I do wonder how much of difficulty focusing and concentrating maybe down to lack of sleep...hence why we are wanting to do something about that too.
Also, DD can be sensitive to sugar sometimes so we try to limit that from lunchtime or early afternoon mostly.
I have a mum friend whose daughter (also 7) has melatonin and she has found it a godsend, with no nasty side affects.

It goes off, you have to replace the bottle every six weeks. People often up the dosage but they just need a new bottle.
(if you are taking the liquid of course)

It goes off, you have to replace the bottle every six weeks. People often up the dosage but they just need a new bottle.
(if you are taking the liquid of course)

We use melatonin bought online (piping rock) for 15 year old with ADHD traits including poor sleep and disrupted circadian rhythm and 8 year old on ADHD assessment pathway. It's a game changer. No side effects that we can see. I know you aren't sure about buying it online but it's OTC in many countries.

We buy 10mg chewy ones and tablets from piping rock. Cut the chewies in half for the kids and take the full 10mg tablet myself.

You can buy it in supermarkets where I live (and they are totally paranoid about drugs - even getting an ibuprofen is difficult) so I wouldn’t worry overly. It’s fantastic stuff!

Piping Rock 10 mg per pill. It is a natural hormone and a good reputable company—no drugs in there. This is a higher dose than a lot of the prescription pills but I’ve had no problems with it and I am horribly sensitive to pharma drugs so have to avoid them.

Can I ask what sort of dose do your children have? DS is 6 and though he sleeps solidly, bedtime is getting later and later and more and more of a fight. He is ASD/ADHD diagnosed so I know I’ll get it prescribed just not sure the sort of dose to be mindful of?

We used it a few years ago and it was life changing. Wish we'd discovered it years ago. Daughter is 16 now happy and healthy. Good luck. Sleep deprivation is awful.x

We use a spray (when necessary) that is 1.9mg per spray and may 1-2 sprays. Does the trick and seems like a really low dose in comparison to what I read here

No you can’t. It’s prescription only.

Mine both take it. Both have ADHD. DS1 needs help sleeping even on days he doesn't take ritalin. DS2 only needs it on days he takes ritalin.

DS12 - has 5mg and an allergy med to help sleep through. Still needs sleep hypnosis from youtube and if very anxious it takes a long time to go to sleep.

DS10 - has 3mg but only when he's had ritalin. Even with melatonin he wakes most nights and is a VERY early bird.

I take OTC melatonin (don't live in the UK) which is 1.9mg. I'd like to stop but the nights I don't take it are awful.

Healthcare professional here.

Firstly, you cannot buy melatonin over the counter for children. It isn't licensed. You can buy circadin and various other brands from a pharmacy, they are marketed for jet lag.

Secondly, the GP cannot prescribe melatonin for children. A paediatrician or psychiatrist can, and it will be "fulfilled" by the GP under what we call a "shared care agreement". This means the GP will sign your repeat scripts but the psychiatrist is the one who prescribes it and alters dosage.

You can ask your GP for a trial of phernagan, this is an anti histamine that is sedating and prescribed off licence to help with sleep. It is their discretion as to whether or not they will prescribe it.

Also, to take melatonin we would usually do an ECG first, again something to be discussed with paediatrics.

Presumably you can get a private prescription? That's how these things usually work.

DD actually takes Circadin

2mg but up to 6mg allowed.

It isn't a prescription only medicine.

Well yes, but you can’t just buy it as a pp suggested.

Melatonin is a POM in the U.K. The melatonin people are buying on the internet are unregulated food supplements, generally from the USA. It is not legal for food supplement melatonin to be sold in the UK, because it’s a POM in the UK. It’s not illegal to buy it or import it for your own use.

I buy melatonin in US supermarkets for jet lag, but I’m not sure that I’d give it to a child.

I buy mine from America too. Been using it at least 5 years.

To the OP, why not hold off another few weeks until the summer holidays and then you can see if she has a more natural sleep pattern - maybe that she catches up a bit and that in turn might make her sleep a bit earlier. Sleep breeds sleep they say. Also I don't think the amount she is getting is too unusual- it's a late bedtime but also a relatively late wake up time - I know a fair few early risers at that age so they might be in bed at 7.30 but they're up at 5am.

Sounds like you're doing everything right bedtime wise but having had similar with one of mine (no concerns with autism / adhd) I recommend trying not to stress. She is a couple of years older now but we used to get wound up that they weren't asleep so would go in regularly but that didn't have any better outcome than just making sure they were safe in bed, with no distractions except a book and letting them fall asleep when they were ready.

speak to your school nurse - they can provide sleep support

Not always true - my GP prescribed for my 8yo and didn’t even see us, was all done over message! But don’t know if that’s because we have an nhs autism diagnosis.

tbh OP 9.30 doesn’t sound that bad.

dd was not getting off until 11 and needing to be woken in the morning and now with the melatonin it’s around 9.15 and she wakes up naturally, she’s a lot happier in the mornings. For me it’s worth it and has really revolutionised my evenings and means I get more sleep too. I try to give her one night off a week.

Circadian 2mg is what my GP prescribed for my 8yo, it’s means to be slow release but as I have to crush it for dd that means it doesn’t work as slow release. In any case it seems t work for her!