melatonin

[lilybird]

my dd (3) has just been prescribed melatonin for sleep problems, just wondered if anyone had any knowledge of this drug, as not that happy about giving it to her, just in the last 4 days of taking it she's gone from being a quiet natured girl to a hypo!!

I got this off a website, but I was wondering if there were other options available to you, why does she have trouble sleeping?

"Melatonin is the hormone responsible for regulating the body?s biological clock. It is produced by the pineal gland, which is located in the brain. Melatonin helps to regulate sleep. During daylight, the pineal gland in the brain produces the neurotransmitter serotonin, but at night, the pineal gland stops producing serotonin and instead makes melatonin. This melatonin release helps trigger sleep."

thanks very much, she suffers from something like night terrors, just really hate having to drug her to sleep but have no other options at the moment

Poor thing, isn't there another alternative? I'm sure someone with more info will come around.
Try a new thread with the line: Please help 3 year old with night terrors-Dr prescribed melatonin. I'm sure that would spark a few up!

Melatoninhas few side effects as such, and is often rpescribed for insomnia, ASD, night shift workers and in the US as a beauty 'miracle'. It also is known to exaccerbate bad dreams / night terrors and in your case I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole!

DS has melatonin for his ASD related sleep problems, but he does have dreams as a side effect.

I know how hard no sleep can be (trust me on this LOL) but melatonin might not be the right choice for you

i need to speak to the specialst tomorrow so i will tell her my concerns, she seems very hyper where before she wouldn't move a inch from me whilst we were out!

Someone i know at work has a son with ADHD (is that right) and he has it and has worked for her. Not everyones the same though. Good luck x

spoke to doctor about the problems, she suggested we try a lower dosage (2mgs) so we've using that for the past 3 nights and seems to be working okay, and her behaviour has gone back to how it was!! (me & dh are even thinking of having an evening out tonight!)

Lilybird I was going to say try 1.5mg (half a tablet). If its too high it will make her dream vividly. Also after about 45 minutes the half life of the tablet will be out of her body which means that she could well wake up or have periods of wakefulness. The new thing now seems to be the slow released melatonin (called Circardin). It helps keep DS2 asleep through the night and on 6.30 he is awake quite refreshed (unless the immediate release melatonin). There isnt much research to say Circardin is OK for the under 16's so Im going to question the paed about it before I agree to the Circardin. Also you can get it from the GP (Circardin) so I want to make sure that my GP will not "one day" decide to stop it or I will have to kill him.