Where can I buy melatonin online in the UK for a child?

[SwanRose]

Please can someone tell me where I can buy melatonin in the uk online? I know it’s only given via a prescription but I’m sick of jumping through hoops and waiting months to see a paediatrician meanwhile my child is up every night till 3/4am unable to sleep. I think I read of people buying it online from other countries? any advice on where from? Thanks

(I realise it needs a prescription here but many other countries sell it over the counter)

And our GP referred us to CAMHS to prescribe it who a) refused and b) don’t do gummies anyway which is all our autistic child can manage b

My reply was hidden for mentioning CAMHS?

Biovea, we used that until we got a prescription.

The restrictions are really recent it used to be much easier

This is where I buy

they sell gummies too

https://biovea.com/uk/product/detail/15041/melatonin-3mg-240-vegetarian-tablets/?deptid=0&cid=0&mid=0&kw=Melatonin+3mg

Ive ordered it on biovea for about 8yrs. Start with lowest dose.

I’m sorry that CAMHS turned it down, you must have been gutted. For those who are able to get melatonin prescribed from a paediatrician, ADHD/ASD specialist or from their GP via shared care, there is a very small tablet form of melatonin called Slenyto that can be useful in children who find larger tablets difficult to swallow.

I am aware of this I wasn’t asking why we cannot buy it and other countries can I was just making the point that (eg) Spanish children have the same bodies as UK children so it cannot interact differently between those children regardless where it’s obtained.

There is also a culture in this country of not treating children for health matters in the same way we would approach adult health needs.

An adult who is not sleeping to the extent it impacts on their physical health, emotional health, ability to work and maintain relationships is taken seriously. A child, less so. Depression is the same, thats even if you can get a MH diagnosis for a child.

It worked for my son who is AuDHD and has a significant learning disability, but it made him more aggressive. He actually started to refuse to take it and typically takes medication no problem. Sp we stopped it. From that I assume he didnt feel great on it.

It’s being delivered tomorrow, I can’t wait, I stocked up to last us a while, I spoke to the GP again about getting it prescribed by them but they confirmed it would need to be a paediatrician and they cant prescribed it themselves so easier to just buy it.

Hi OP, I was desperate and finally got a prescription from the paediatrician after a year. But my girls sleep problems were nothing compared to what you’re describing.

I purchased drops from Biovea and also Natrol gummies. I started with 1mg. The paediatrician has since prescribed 2mg extended release but after working for about 8 weeks it seems to have stopped working at all.

We do 1-2mg, not every night and the kids don’t know what it is. GP and CAMHS are aware and it’s in their notes.

works brilliantly still, 3 years on

Thanks both, it arrived today! Feeling so relieved and cant wait to try it tonight. Can’t believe how quick it came

i hope they work for you, we bought some from a Spanish supermarket, it’s absolutely amazing!

One thing I found is it doesn’t work if you take it too early, so wait until they’re actually in bed and relatively calm and ready to relax.
Also, unless they’re a really low dose, it’s worth cutting them up and trying a really low dose first, for lots of people the optimal dose is more like 200 - 400mg, not 2-3g.

It didn’t work 😩 tried it last night and nothing

How did you try it? You need to actively be lying down trying to sleep for it to work.

Don't give up after one dose. It might need a build up of several days.

Lack of sleep is a total nightmare, I’m so sorry you are going through this - our ADHD child has always struggled and it’s a miserable experience.
we use melatonin and it doesn’t always work for my DC if they aren’t relaxed, you can already see the issue for someone with ADHD!

Whilst melatonin can be effective from the first dose, it generally requires consistent use over several days or weeks to help reset an irregular circadian rhythm or treat chronic sleep schedules.

This is why it's not great to buy it online; a proper prescriber would have explained all of that. They'd also advise you about the breaks that need to be taken and how best to schedule them to cause the least amount of issues.

We had it prescribed for our DS who has ADHD. His problem was sleep onset (i.e. late to fall asleep but then slept through).
We were given long acting/slow release which I think is standard but if your problem is early waking then the standard short acting version will not help at all. Similarly you need to get the right dose for age and weight.

Our DS also has epilepsy and we didn't give melatonin at weekends (this is helpful to avoid the system becoming accustomed to it). We didn't give it at half term once and then on starting it again he had 2 seizures so we don't give it any more, he just goes to sleep late.

I don't think it should be over the counter in the UK for a variety of reasons:
1 in children who would have it prescribed, to avoid using it improperly (e.g. every single night)
2 because of the formulation and dose issue: if you need long acting, short acting or a specific dose.
3 because it can clash with other medications and medical conditions
4 because in the US in some parent groups every child is on it - whether they have a condition that would warrant it or not. It can be seen as an alternative to actually helping children go to sleep.

It might be more helpful if GPs can prescribe but only in very narrow circumstances. The US has got it wrong.

We have never been given any advice of this sort either by the paediatrician nor by the GP.

We had to figure it out for ourselves.

That's UK healthcare for you, unfortunately.

Have you looked at the Sleep Charity website?

Yes, don't despair yet. DS' psychiatrist told us that it also has a sort of mental aspect - you have to want it to work and believe it will work. otherwise it would be an actual sleeping pill which it's not.

So I'd encourage your ds to give it a proper try, over a few days. Take it at say 9pm (I'm guessing he's NOT a "I'd like to go to bed at 8pm kind of kid?!") then do relaxed chilled things from then until about 10:30 - read a book, watch a bit of tv in his Pjs etc - then get into bed. Ideally with light off and ready for sleep but if that feels very stressful for him because of past experience, perhaps with a low light and an audible book or even just a regular book. Encourage him to simply aim to relax his body rather than focusing on falling asleep (easier said than done, I know!).

I wouldn't recommend TV less than an hour before bed. Though I've just told my DCs they can have a short programme but we are on holiday and I'm not expecting them to sleep immediately!
It can be hard to switch off for a lot of DCs so a relaxed chat about their day (or yours if they say "nothing" like a lot of kids), you read to them and then just let them listen to as much audio as they want (or read to themselves). We reckon as long as ours are resting, then it's all good. Both have ADHD and DS has gone through phases of getting up due to anxiety and wanting to check we are still there, DD just wants to play and will get up to build a den/try my makeup/shoes/other things she's not supposed to be doing. Which is why I say if they are in bed it's fine!