Melatonin stopped working… now what?!

[Adviceandacuppa]

I have an autistic child who is in primary school. Their sleeping habits are horrendous, so about a year ago it was recommended that they start melatonin from the paediatrician. In the area that I live, it’s not available on the NHS for children - it’s stopped being funded with no talks on when or if it’s likely to be reinstated, so the hospital gave us the Biovea website to order some gummies from instead which they have around 3mg per night because of their age and weight. This worked amazingly well but over the last few weeks they are now starting to wake up multiple times in the night again!

What other alternatives are there to help with sleeping issues?! We currently don’t have a paediatrician due to relocating and being put back on the waiting list so ideally it’s got to be something that a GP can prescribe! I’m at my wits end with it all - their behaviour has gone massively downhill with being aggressive and now if they stop sleeping I honestly don’t think I’ll be able to see a way forward - getting decent sleep at night was the only thing keeping me going at this point

(they are also now under CAMHS but I don’t know if they can prescribe medication or not?!)

In my area I got it prescribed by CAMHS and after they sent a letter to my GP they continued to prescribe it.

Tolerance
Stop it for a week recommence it and it will work again

Not sure from post, but if it's a question of supply, amazon sell melatonin.

Depending on age and size you could maybe go up in strength? Tbh I have heard that melatonin only really helps with going to sleep, not staying asleep.

Have you heard of the charity Cerebra they have a sleep advice service for children with brain conditions.

You'd probably need a prescription for extended release melatonin. I have the same issue of constant waking and my consultant said that the short life melatonin is no good for keeping people asleep. Tbh I didn't find it any good anyway. It just gave me weird dreams and which woke me up.

All the children I know who are on it have a break in the school holidays

I've taken melatonin on and off for a few years and I read somewhere that lower doses can be more effective than higher doses.
I now take 300mcg and it has the same effect on me as I used to get from 10x that dose (3mg).

Might be worth a try?

My ds has 6mg per night. Started off with internet stuff at first but now prescribed by the doctor that diagnosed him (at a private centre) and now nhs as our doc accepted her diagnosis. Apparently you can go up to 10mg of this stuff. It's called circadin i think.

If your child was on prescribed Circadin then biovea isn't the same thing as it isn't extended release. I'd go back to your dr. I get Circadin on script - it isn't banned in the NHS.

Diphenhydramine antihistamine syrup. I used to give it for one night only to help with sleep. You have to be economical when buying and say you need it for travel sickness, but should be able to buy over the counter

If old enough you could try promethazine. Anti histamine you get in a chemist, knocks me tf out. On par with zopiclone but you'd definitely have to check ages/weight I think.

Is that what that does?! My boy was prescribed some PRN; had zero effect in moment but I might bear it in mind for difficulty-going-to-sleep nights!

For me personally I definitely have to take 2 tablets, 1 does nothing. But yeah 2 is as effective as a 7.5mg zoppy. Obviously have to do the usual, straight to bed and try to relax then it works for me.

Is it the same tablet that was working? We had a random bottle that was slow release and it was absolute shit. If not that, up the dose or take a break to break the tolerance.

No advice except for cerebra but yes ultimately melatonin will stop working as the body builds up a tolerance.