Melatonin

[WireCat]

Do any of your children have medication?
Ds (5) has ASD and GDD.
Took him to the gp this morning because his behaviour is awful and his sleeping is no good.
She's referred him to the child psychologist for melatonin.

Will this be ok for him?

Do any of your children have ADHD? I've googled (yes I know!) but he also seems to fit that as well. Is ADHD common with ASD?

Thank you.

Hi Wirecat,
I don't know too much about ADHD, but DD7 has ASD and was prescribed Melatonin 3mg. She takes 1 at night, 30 minutes before bed.

It's really made a big difference. Previously she would be awake until around 11pm most night, pacing up and down, wandering around and totally unable to switch off or calm down.

Since taking the melatonin she is sleeping much earlier and seems calmer as well. It activates the 'sleep switch' in our bodies - it's usually produced naturally by the body but in her case the paediatrician who diagnosed her with ASD thought she probably wasn't producing enough.

Either way, it's worked really well for us. Good luck

Hi my dd2 who has autism was pescribed melatonin aged 3 by the paediatrician as she was sleeping really badly , it's a natural hormone that apparently some people don't produce enough of

Hi we use Melatonin 4mgm on DD and it works well, however were unable to use it for DS as it increased his seizures.

My dd, 4, slept v badly - now on 6 mg melatonin and 2 mg slow release melatonin. Much much better. Impact on behaviour, mood and just general health all really positive.

We did need to give it to her for about 2 weeks initially before seeing real progress so you need to perservere not just try for a few nights and think that doesnt work. Also you need to fix underlying behaviour stuff - get good sleep routines and times in place and stick to them. Its not a sedative, just supports the giong to sleep process.

Thank you all x

He does have a good bedtime routine. goodness only knows what time he'd go to bed if I must left him.

I just hope we get an appointment soon.

Ds1 is 4, suspected to have ADHD but too young for a formal diagnosis. He was given melatonin at 3.5 years as his nights were truly dreadful.

Once we got settled into the new routine of tablets a little while before bed, we noticed a huge difference in getting ds to sleep. The downside if you like is it helps them get to sleep, it doesn't keep them asleep. So if we don't wear ds out we can still have dreadful night wakenings. But it no longer takes hours and hours to get him to settle and sleep.

It can help but the effect seems to wear off . You can also get long acting melatonin in capsules. We used to open them and add to a yoghurt. Also wore off after a while. I think the trick is to use a variety of medications and rotate them so the child doesn't get used to them.

I have a 9 year old DD, who takes Medikinet XL for combined ADHD. This affects her sleep hugely, so she takes 3mg Melatonin about an hour before bed time. It helps hugely. No side effects that we have noticed.

She also is diagnosed ASD by the way.

Melatonin has changed our lives (for the better). I nearly danced out of CAMHS when the psych finally prescribed it, I was so relieved.

Our paediatrician said if it stops working, take a "medication holiday" for 1-2 weeks & then restart it. Also believes that for some dc, very small doses eg (0.5mg) are sometimes more effective than larger ones.

It has been very beneficial for my 14-year-old DS1 (ASD). If he doesn't take it, he can't get to sleep till the early hours, but he's asleep within an hour or an hour and a half from taking it.

My ds takes it only occasionally, usually to help him get back into a routine or if he's hyped up about something. It works well for him even if he only takes it once a week/month. Not sure if its because we call it his sleepy tablet. My daughter was on concerta and melatonin and didn't find it worked.

Thank you everyone.