To ask if anyone has given their toddler melatonin?

[JesusInTheCabbageVan]

I'm doing what I swore I would never do: prefacing a non-AIBU question with 'To ask' so I can stick it in here and get the high traffic.

I'm currently desperate with my 15mo. He's normally a good sleeper but has these bad phases which COULD be teething or illness etc, but which most often seem to be linked to changes in development. At the moment he is feeding for 1 hour, three times a night and utterly hysterical if that doesn't get him off to sleep.

Long story short - I don't have the energy for sleep training but I've just seen the word 'melatonin supplements' during a google search and I'm wondering. I wouldn't use it long term, but I'm thinking about trying it for a few nights just in case he's needing to break the cycle. Anyone used it?

Oh, and I'm waiting to hear back from OOH for an appointment today, just in case there's a physical cause.

I'm UK and we certainly did have it at 18months and we also saw some side effects.

Some children are just terrible sleepers, mine has a brain injury so we have been advised by her team she will struggle a bit with sleep but to be fair I think reflux and high tone are the main causes. We had to learn to cope, alternated nights with each other. I didn't night wean her until 19months but even then that wasn't a magic solution.

Redwelly, have they suggested baclofen? Dd2 was the same, but we pushed through.

Hi all,

Thanks for all the responses and advice.

Just to clarify: no I'm not going to give him dodgy knock-off internet melatonin! No no no! In the course of my half-assed internet searching I'd picked up the idea that it was some kind of herbal supplement which you could pick up in Beanfreaks or similar. Once I found out you could only get it on prescription it never crossed my mind to try and 'score' some.

I also had no idea it was more commonly prescribed for children with genuine, serious sleep problems due to SN, and I'm really sorry if I've offended anyone who is in this situation. I know that relatively speaking we've been lucky with DS's sleep. Generally we take it on the chin when he goes through a bad patch, but on this occasion it came on top of him having been ill, and me having been ill for several weeks, and it just felt like the last straw knowing that I was going to have to deal with an inconsolable, screaming DS for two hours every night before I could sleep myself (and then get up at 2-hourly intervals throughout).

Anyway, I took him to OOH and it turns out he had an ear infection in both ears and was probably feeding for comfort. We didn't twig because his temperature was normal and he hadn't been pulling at his ears. Maybe we just caught it early. Worth bearing in mind I suppose, because like a lot of people it had crossed our mind that maybe it was just the molars coming through and we needed to man up.

Ahh Jesus

That was exactly the case with our DS. We were so pleased to know what it was.

Have they given him any antibiotics? Our GP didn't but his ear drum perforated at which point they did (very common and nothing to worry about, but if you get a lot of fluid coming out of his ears, probably worth taking him back)

Really hope he gets well soon and you get some sleep x

Glad you got to the bottom of this bad spell :) hope he is better soon

Yep, possibly due to me having a huge wobbly heaving red-faced breakdown as soon as I sat down opposite the GP he's been prescribed amoxycillin. Luckily he loves the taste and does a happy little arm flapping dance whenever I get the bottle out.

It tastes of bananas DS went mad for it too

Really hope he gets well soon and you get a proper sleep.

I have a SN child who at the age of 5 has not slept through the night since 6 months old.
Without giving melatonin, which was a hard decision to make, my child would not sleep.
I don't think that something like teething or an ear infection on occasion is a good enough reason to medicate a child. I would take the occasional sleepless night.
When a child is averaging 2-3 hours sleep maximum a night, every night, for years, only then, with advice, should you consider the options.

JesusInTheCabbageVan

So glad that you found out what was wrong with DS. Hope he perks up soon. If sleep issues continue, maybe post on one of the parenting boards and get some advice there. I can't imagine how difficult it is when you're sleep deprived long-term.

Don't worry, most of us realised you weren't going to scour the 'net for melatonin! Just that it would not be a good idea at this stage but hopefully, things will improve.

Poor boy. Glad the OOH sorted him and hopefully he'll be back to sleeping properly.

DS takes melatonin every night. Before he started on it we were lucky to get more than a couple of hours of unbroken sleep, he still wakes up during the night. Before was prescribed, we occasionally resorted to medised in the days before it banned as we were that desperate.

Melatonin a hormone not an evil illegal drug.