chloral hydrate for son

[Lily189]

Hi everyone
My son is 3 year old and has autism his sleep has been crazy since he turnt 1 he takes hours to settle and wakes comstanlty through the night ,he dosnt nap during the day and the lack of sleep is making his meltdowns worse .the doctor tried phenergan which had no effect on him at all
I went back to the doctor who has give me chloral hydrate to try ,when I went to collect it the pharmacist had never prescribed it before and said its quite drastic but when I explained his sleep he understood why he got it .I have to give him 10ml tonight .
I'm sat in tears scared how it's going to effect him as he's non verbal he cant tell me how he feels and I just feel so bad but know he needs sleep as its effecting hik too and he starts nursery in September

I just was hoping someone has used it and can tell me how it went and just give me some peace at mind all advice would be great tia

Bump

my son has Chloral hydrate though primarily for epilepsy. It is his first line rescue medication and works brilliantly most of the time. So his dose will be much higher than your sons I imagine. It is a very useful sedative and he usually relaxes and sleeps well if he takes it and I know some other parents use it as an aid for sleep for their children .
I understand it is scary though but they wouldn't prescribe it if they didn't think it would help and it may be massively helpful for your little boy. It has been a game changer for us and has definitely improved our sons quality of sleep though that is not its primary function.
My son is also non verbal so.i totally understand what you are saying but what have you got to lose ?
I would love an update on how it goes. Sending a handhold for tonight .

My adult dd who has cluster epilepsy and has sld has taken Chloral Hydrate for over 20 years.

She just has it during seizure clusters - 4 times daily. It is normally only given to children and we wondered whether it was still as effective for dd so her consultant - with our agreement - took her off it. The next cluster of seizures oh Wow! We certainly discovered how effective it was still. She was straight back using it during the next set of seizures.

Our experience with this drug has been nothing but positive. DD was first prescribed this at 8 years old.

Good luck Op! 💐

I'm surprised the doctor didn't try Melatonin first, which is a synthetic version of the body's natural sleep hormone. It does seem drastic to jump to a sedative at so young.

Thanks for your replies they've made me feel alot better about trying it
I put it in his bottle as he refuses medicine and throws up when you force him he took one sip won't drink anymore hoping he will give in and drink the rest
Anyone any tips getting autistic kids take medicine would be great lol