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.

If you think the weighted blanket would be too heavy look up compression sheets.

We rub lavender cream in each evening which helps.

Ground why is it more likely to get hooked on antihistamines than melatonin? I know adults addicted to melatonin, whether psychological or otherwise they believe they need it to sleep.

Our standards are extremely high here. I feel very reassured by that too.

Having had a whole day pondering, I,m even more sure about not using non prescribed meds, esp when puberty hormones are in th mix as potential issues and she’s approaching that stage if not in the first throws

Melatonin doesn't cause dependence. But hey, suit yourself. It's not recommended to use sedating anti-histamines on children under 12 unless a doctor recommends them anyhow but of course, melatonin is far more demonic.

Why on earth does she need melatonin? She's a child. What sleep hygiene have you tried and why is her poor sleep a medical problem?

My twins have ASD and really struggle to sleep.

They recently had chicken pox and were so itchy and distressed they couldn’t sleep. Piriton did nothing for them (they’ve had it before for allergies).

I bought from Phenergan liquid from the pharmacy and I know it’s really sedating as I took it (in a higher dose obviously) for sickness in pregnancy. I gave them 1/4 of the correct dose and nothing happened so I gave them another 1/4 of a dose before bed - best night’s sleep in ages!

If her rhythms are out of sync this might help? As others say, you could give it every day for allergies if necessary!

I won’t be using it to knock them out or anything, but it’s useful to have in the cupboard in case of anything similar (eg whenever they end up with the hand foot and mouth I’m dreading 😳)

Floaty, I’ve said in earlier posts that we have great sleep hygiene, always have, and have literally tried everything. This is a very recent issue. I havent categorised it as medical but my god it is impacting everything. Yes she’s a child but when nothing works do you just give up? Not thIs mum.

Ground I think it's th fact yo need a prescription for it, whereas anti histamines you don’t. That makes it a different kettle of fish altogether and something to be more wary of using in self diagnosis (or trialling on my own child)

It's arbitrary, though. You need a script for many drugs, including promethazine, in other Western countries that you can get OTC in the UK and again, if you read the package, it will tell you clearly not to use it on under 12s without consulting a doctor first. The UK is the only place I know of where melatonin is OTC.

I also recommend a gravity blanket, my sleep quality has vastly improved with one. Was £30 from amazon.

We were desperate. Ds is 15 & has been a poor sleeper since babyhood. He has asd and has been constantly sent home from school due to exhaustion, dizzy spells, etc etc. The dr said he may not be producing enough melatonin naturally, the consultant said he wouldn’t prescribe because he wanted him assessed for ADHD medication instead, CAMHS refused to see him for potential co-morbid ADHD. We have been going round in circles for years.

So I gave in. An online company called Biovea, and half a 5mg gummy 90 mins before bedtime & our/his quality of life has massively improved. We reckoned that any side effects were outweighed by everything else but so far there have been none.

Exactly. Until you’ve experienced REALLY busted sleep, you’ve no idea. Lavender oil? Pfft!

My older one with ADHD slept no more than 40 minutes at a time, we had night carers for him and he would fit he was so tired and melatonin fixed that. He was previously on ketotifen, a prescribed antihistamine and that gave him headaches the next day.
We use Biovea too.

Calling it sleep hygiene stresses me right out for a start.

Can I ask how you behave about sleep around her? Are you stressed?

I had this problem when I was young. It was only when my folks chilled out and just let me stay up that I started sleeping properly again.

Like your daughter, I wasn't afraid of anything other than not being able to sleep. It was really scary. Once I knew I could watch tele if I couldn't sleep I started sleeping.

Using words like 'sleep hygiene' and podiums is going to make her anxiety worse.

You go to sleep or don't go to sleep, doesn't matter either way.

Personally I would recommend acupuncture, I've seen it work well in children. But don't say it's for sleep!

What an eye opening thread - my DS was often awake at 11 pm when he was 10 and I just figured he didn't need as much sleep as other 10 year olds. He would be in his room from 9 onwards (used to have a bath around 8 and then we would play a game until 9) and he would just read.

Sleepy cream from lush works well for babies & children, ds was prescribed melatonin by his consultant, it only worked for less than a month & then gradually stopped working, he then got given a week of promethazine but it gave him migraine, the Lush cream settles him most nights even at 15.

My kids take prescribed Melatonin from their consultant; they hate the taste so I order a flavoured one on line, a recommendation from the consultant. My eldest takes 3mg every night, my 9yr old takes it when needed, which isn't often now...once a month or so.

Exactly. Until you’ve experienced REALLY busted sleep, you’ve no idea. Lavender oil? Pfft!

Right? One of my almost 3 year old twins is now fighting sleep despite having been up since 3:30am this morning.

If one more person recommends the lush cream to me, I’ll scream and yes I tried it because I’m a sucker

DC was prescribed it as CAMHS thought the OTC melatonin bought in the US version of Boots was "risky" DC suffers from extreme anxiety (shit father) and has done better as the years have gone by but winding down to sleep is an issue and melatonin helps usually. If there is something really major (exams, row with friends) it does t work which is sort of reassuring. It's like a nudge into sleep really.

Cutantrim The link you posted doesn't mean you can just import melatonin for yourself/ whoever. You need a manufacturers or wholesalers license. Yes we order melatonin in other strengths and formulations as a special into the pharmacy but you need a prescription to do so before we order it.

I can't believe the number of people buying medication online and giving it to their children. Whilst melatonin is a hormone, it's the synthetic form that's in medication.

Yes you can buy it over the counter in other countries but it's prescription only in this country and any site importing it is acting against the law. If they don't follow the law, who knows what else they're doing or not doing.

My dd is prescribed Melatonin but it only kick starts her to get to sleep, we have also bought Montmorency cherry juice for her as this is completely natural and she will take this if she wakes up during the night, this can be bought on e bay or at most health food stores, maybe give this a try first ?

Chocolate that’s really helofuk to know. I’m not relaxed. Maybe I need to take the drugs and chill the fuck out. It’s so hard. I know how important it is, to everything. But maybe we just need to totally relax the expectations. Within reason. Holidays will help.

And thank you to the weighted blanket suggesters too.

5mg isn’t a lot as other posters have said .

My son has autism adhd and ld and is on 10 mg every night and has been a few years now . He is age 7 .

I wouldn’t buy online you cannot guarantee what your getting

Redcliff - good to know. But it was night fears which started this, so her sleeping has been changed by a trauma and we are trying to get it back on track. She clearly needs more sleep than she’s getting or I’d be less concerned. I have to peel her off her bed in the mornings.

My son was like this when he was 11 couldn't sleep at all. We were prescribed 5ml piriton which helped tremendously. When he outgrew that I got him Fenagan(sp) and he was out like a light. He used it for about a month and after that didn't need them anymore as he was able to sleep unaided. It is indeed stressful being woken up every night because of not being able to sleep. Good luck with it.