Aibu to want melatonin prescription for child?

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Nearly 10. Over 3 months not being able to sleep. We’ve sorted the night wakes but she can’t drop off til 11 or later. We’ve tried everything, had professional help etc, nothing working. We are all at our wits end. She was a perfectly normal 11 hour sleeper before that, no issues at all.

Has anyone with a child with no additional needs managed to secure a melatonin prescription for their child? I know children with autism who have prescriptions but no one without any additional needs. Just wondering if she needs a reset. It’s the only thing we haven’t tried.

Kitkat1985 for a retailer licensed to sell OTC lines into the UK market they are still subject to UK safety/licensing.

Kitkat, I did give her piriton one night. She slept. I felt awful. It feels like treating the symptoms not the cause? I desperately want to empower her to do it herself but no approach seems to be working.

Bio that’s interesting on lights, I had no idea??? However it’s light here til 10 ish so no lights on til 9 at the earliest? We have a very light house.

CutAntri,m that can’t be true because it isn’t licensed here for use without a prescription, ergo they are circumventing our licensing by providing off script?

I can't find the one I was looking for, but plenty here... hopefully you can stay awake through it all

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Don't mess about with things like that. Have you tried piriton at bedtime for a few nights to reset? Our gp advised to give it to dd when she was very poorly with her ears to help her sleep, One dose four hours before bedtime then another. Worth a try first.

I'd still give the glass a go - they made a big difference to DS, (who admittedly does his homework on a computer in the evening), but you can get them quite inexpensively and they may help

Oops! I forgot lovely Michael
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GPs are not even allowed to prescribe melatonin to adults - prescription must be from specialist. Same happened to my child - my massage friend showed me how to massage her legs to push blood towards heart to kick start her sleep process - worked like a charm. Quick 15min massage before bed time.

5mg is a big dose for a child Crusoe, especially since you are doing it without medical advice.

Melatonin is a safe drug when used properly, but there are known issues with melatonin causing developmental issues in puberty as well as with blood sugars, hence why only a consultant can prescribe for children. Although overall the use of melatonin in children has not been well researched.

www.naturalsleep.org/melatonin-for-children/

My daughter has been like this since babyhood. She is now 9, never drops off before 10.30-11 her brain will not shut down and relax. The result is anxiety, tiredness, low resilience to illness and worry. We have her piriton for chicken pox as a smaller child, it made her more awake than ever.

We have tried everything (aside from medication) and drs have been unhelpful. She is currently on waiting list for cahms assessment potentially for ADHD. However here wait list is about 6months.

Put aluminium on her windows - light triggers melatonin.

My DS takes 6mg a night. It's a god send as he wasn't falling to sleep until gone midnight and for a while we were having to take him to school late most days.

He has additional needs caused by a brain tumour so that's the reason he needs it.

Alumnin foil! Cheap black out blinds.

Forgot to add, it's prescribed by the paediatrician, then repeat scripts from the GP

She wears an eye mask, do you think blacking out the room would stil help? We have blinds from when they were babies, could try I guess

I had a prescription for melatonin in the past, but it was cheaper to get an American relative to buy it at Wal-Mart and send it to me!

If you order online from a reputable retailer I would think it should be fine.

There’s one licensed for distribution via prescription (circadian) and a second liquid presentation that’s at the final stages of marketing approval, for use on prescription in the UK. However, it is also available for import for personal use and the manufacturing conditions are just a stringent to get the import license, rather than the marketing license.

I’ll read all that stuff bio thank you! Maybe I’ll get her to read it too and help send her off!

Piriton did help but I’m loathe to medicate her without proper medical advice saying it’s a good thing. I don’t feel very rational at the moment So I think that kind of thing definitely needs an expert sense check.

(I have 2 with ADHD.)

Only did one night of piriton ages ago, felt really regretful about it so haven’t done again.

Cutantrim - you are incorrect. A UK pharmacist can only dispense any prescription only drug with a valid prescription from a doctor (and melatonin is a prescription only drug). Any online retailer selling melatonin without a prescription is therefore completely breaking the law and definitely not following UK guidelines on dispensing (so you can take a good guess that they won't pay too much attention to following UK guidelines on sourcing drugs either).

A physician recommended magnesium spray (better for you is the range) for my teen who hadn't been sleeping. Worked v well and says suitable for kids. They do bath salts and creams too.

Try this, you can buy OTC in tablet or liquid form from any pharmacy.

www.amazon.co.uk/RESCUE-Night-Liquid-Melts-capsules/dp/B00427MG1S/ref=sr_1_1?hvlocphy=1007345&hvnetw=g&keywords=night+melts&hvadid=259027004337&qid=1563527133&gclid=Cj0KCQjw1MXpBRDjARIsAHtdN-2GyA2kTOJUe32UvAfeawg1XEhIDxctcGFQnbFU9IwDjXgGbZOjBFEaAlqGEALw_wcB&s=gateway&hydadcr=28146_1724745&hvpos=1t1&hvdev=t&hvqmt=e&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&hvtargid=kwd-316783444231&adgrpid=53472446872&hvrand=16490699860989169059&sr=8-1Bach’s rescue remedy night melts work for ds. His difficult falling asleep is probably anxiety but they make all the difference.

Argh, the link was not supposed to link like that!