Melatonin

[ThinkPossitive]

Hi, my son has been prescribed melatonin as he is a dreadful sleeper even more so than a new born. I'm still in two minds whether I should give it to him or not. Has anyone got any experiences they could share to help make my mind up? Thanks

We have melatonin, ds 9 found it difficult to wind down at night and I tried everything for years.
Epsom salt baths
Massage
Quiet stories
Leaving the lights on
Buying a lava lamp for sensory purposes
Weighted blankets

I'm sorry I didn't go for melatonin earlier because I can see just how tired he was. The thing to get your head around is, that its not a drug like a sleeping pill. It's a natural substance that us actually produced by the brain. The brain produces melatonin to induce sleep and generally calm the body. My ds has a dx of ASD and apparently children on the spectrum may not produce enough melatonin to help them sleep - which makes sense as their brains are so busy that they probably need more than an NT person.

Giving melatonin is just topping him up really.

It doesn't work for everyone and the only way to find out is to try and see I'm afraid. I understand that's its daunting, none of us enter these things lightly. Why not try it for a set period of time and see what he's like when you stop giving it to him. It could be a short burst of it may reset his sleeping pattern

Ds has melatonin.

With melatonin he can fall asleep within 20 - 30 minutes. Without it he is still often awake until the early hours of the morning, and his tolerance levels are through the floor the next day.

The downside is that it doesn't keep him asleep. He still wakes up during the night. He's also more prone to nightmares when he's taken it, but I don't know whether that's because of the actual melatonin.

We use melatonin. Most of us produce it naturally, but research shows many children on the spectrum don't. It's really helped DS sleep and no longer is the pale, tired boy of before. He is much better as a result of not being exhausted all the time. I'd not hesitate to give it a go.

We use an under the tongue spray, but also have slow release pill from the paediatrician. These have an enteric coating to ensure it stays effective for longer. Melatonin doesn't keep a kid asleep, just helps them fall asleep. So if you have a child who wakes throughout the night, slow release is better than under the tongue spray.

DS just couldn't get to sleep, so the spray is perfect for us.

My 9 year old dd has just been prescribed this, though we haven't tried it yet. She stays asleep ok, it is getting her to sleep that is the tricky bit. I will let you know how it goes!

Thank you everyone for the feedback I think I will start him on it in the new year after his ados x

My 11 year has taken it for the last year. He shows no side effects at all.

Good luck

As my user name probably tells you, Ive been on here asking about melatonin recently. DS has been on it for just over a week and it has made a massive difference to the very severe sleep problems he was having.

Very interesting what frizzcat said above about children with ASD maybe not producing enough melatonin to generally calm the body? As DS is far less physically agitated than usual during the day. I wasn't sure if this was down to getting better sleep but maybe its a more direct effect?

DD is on melatonin and has been for a few months. To start with it knocked her out within 20 minutes of taking it, whereas lately she's still up hours later, unless she is completely exhausted (from no sleep the previous nights!) She's so tired every morning now
I discussed the possibility of upping the dose with her nurse (she's on 3mg just now) but he has decided to do a sleep diary first and see if there's a pattern.

Our 9 year old son has Aspergers and finds it really difficult falling to sleep. We have tried everything from completely tiring him out to giving him lavender scented baths, but nothing has worked. His consultant from CAMHS suggested we try Melatonin. We were very apprehensive at first (for no reason other than we didn't like the idea of giving our son sleeping tablets, which it isn't) but we decided that on certain nights where he was obvioulsy having trouble getting to sleep we would try it and it worked a treat with no side effects at all as far as we can tell. In fact he wakes up like a different kid when he has had Melatonin. We have cautioned against giving it him every night as we understand that if he takes it too often his body will get used to it and it will no longer have any effect, but on nights where we think he needs it we give it to him and it works like a treat.

KinkyChristmas - how old is your DD? My DS is 10 and takes 6mg. We did go up to 9mg but there was no increased benefit so dropped back again.

DS1 (7yo) has been taking melatonin for over a year now. It is definitely a sanity saver - he had reached a point where he just wouldn't go to sleep at all. It doesn't knock him out all night, but he gets at least a fairly good stretch of sleep in the evenings and partway through the night.

I forgot to give it to him one night a month or so ago - what a scary reminder of what he was like prior to taking it!! Eeeeek!

blahe She is 8 and on 3mg.

My DS was 9yrs when he started so I am sure 6mg would be fine. I wonder why they wont increase it?

News flash from our lovely paediatrician: A 'melatonin holiday' of about a week seems to re-set the body somehow, so when you reintroduce it, at the same dose, it works like magic again. Said since starting this trick, they very rarely need to use the higher doses anymore.

We did it when camping (insomnia was less cos physical exhaustion, all-day sunshine & fresh air, and was on hay fever meds anyway)