please advise im desperate

[justaquickone]

My Ds 4.11 did not sleep for more than 2 hours a night at the most up until August just gone when the Doctor finally gave in & prescribed him Melatonin .
It took 3 weeks to start working and then he would generally sleep from 7am-6am though the odd night he would not sleep .
Now the past 2-3 weeks the Melatonin hasn't worked & im at breaking point
Can't get him to the Doctors until the School holidays at the end of October .
I can't go another night without sleep , would it harm my Ds if I gave him 2 tablets instead of the usual 1 please don't flame me im desperate

Some children develop a tolerance of melatonin. You may find that by giving him a break for a week or two, he will then respond to it again.

What dose is he on? I'm surprised you were given tablets at that age. DD1 was given a liquid.

As melatonin is a special licence drug, I really wouldn't give more than the prescribed dose. The Consultant who prescribes it takes the risk on themselves of prescribing for a patient who doesn't fit the prescribing criteria (over 55 with insomnia). If something were to happen, you would leave yourself open to scrutiny with Social Services.

Can you email the doctors? It may be just a case of a bit of a growth spurt and a higher dose needed.

Do you have a very calm, steady bedtime routine? One of the nurses at DD1's school said that research has shown that an effective bed time routine starts 2 hours before bed time. So if bedtime is 'T' then all screens should be off at T-2 because the effects of them (including IPads, etc.) last for 2 hours after they're switched off.

Quietly He is been assessed for Aspergers/ADHD & is under a specialist, he is on Melatonin as it was the last resort after trying everything else , his specialist mentioned Melatonin & our GP prescribed it .

Also can't get him to the Doctors before half term as he is in school and evenings I work .

lougle We have a very strict bedtime routine & have had it in place since he was 2 but only since he has been taking Melatonin has his routine been of any use .
I will give him a break from them & see if that helps

Also he has no problem in taking the tablets (2mg) as he has been on several different medications since he was born so he hasn't struggled with taking them

It depends on the dose of the tablet, as to whether you can give 1, 2, 3 etc. Even if you cant get an appointment to get to GP, you could always give your GP a ring and check about dose.

The dose is 1 2mg tablet , ill give the surgery a ring tomorrow

Ds takes 3mg and I have been told I can increase it to 9mg if needed. However, my ds is much older than your ds etc. I would definitely check first with GP.

Also the type of Melatonin can make a difference, there is a slow release for children who have difficulty getting and staying asleep.

Is your ds tired? I have found that ds just doesn't need as much sleep as other children his age and if I start bedtime too early the Melatonin just doesn't work.

He is on the slow release one , by 7pm now he is ready for bed but some nights just can't sleep iyswim

I can't change his routine as he just can't cope with change of any kind

I'm sorry but I really dont understand why you cant keep him out of school for a doctors appointment. At the very least you should arrange a telephkne consultation rather than deciding to change the dose.

No need to change his routine, same routine, just later. However you know your ds best and what will/will not work.

Have you tried relaxation techs or massage. I find anything that encourages ds to lay still long enough, can result in sleep too.

To keep him out of school for an appointment would be a change to his routine which is a very strict routine as he can't cope with slightest change at all .
I can only get an emergency appointment as they are booked solid for the next month

I would ring the dr and ask about increasing the dose. dd aged 8 has 4mg and ds aged 12 has 8mg. I think that increasing it would probably be fine but am obviously not a dr. I remember dr also telling us it would be ok to give more if ds woke uo say at 1am in order to get him back to sleep.

Thanks Cansu

It probably would be fine. But not a risk that I'd take without medical authorisation, simply because it's an off-label prescription.

How about making an emergency appointment in ds name - but going without him?? It's you that's going to explain the problem and it's you that needs the advice. Taking a very upset child with you is not going to help. That's what I would do. I don't totally recommend doing it because I did it once and it made the GP pretty cross (but he's a wanker anyway). I got what I wanted though.

I never thought of that still Thanks

You can always bring a video rather than the dc...