Has anyone used melatonin to reset a nocturnal child's sleep schedule?

[Runningtokeepstill]

I'm desperate. DS, aged 15, and off school with chronic pain syndrome constantly flaring up, has become totally nocturnal and it's getting even worse. It's now virtually impossible to get him up before 6pm. I did manage (just) to get him to a 3 pm paediatrician appointment yesterday but now he's sleeping even later as he was off schedule yesterday.

He's been prescribed melatonin which is supposed to be given before he goes to bed but currently he's not sleeping until early morning (4 am to 6 am) and attempts to wake him up before his "natural" waking times (between 5 and 6 pm currently) very rarely work. I can't start off by giving him melatonin in the mornings (and then gradually adjust) as daylight suppresses melatonin so it won't work. I want him to start going to sleep at nighttime but if he's not got up until 6pm there doesn't seem much point giving him melatonin just a few hours later as he's got no chance of going to sleep then.

I've tried to reset his schedule by just waking him a bit earlier but he's extremely difficult to rouse. I mean: banging things, shouting, dropping water on his face and he's still not fully awake and drops off again as soon as you stop. I've tried just sitting him up but pain amplification starts up and any attempts to move him just hurt a lot and his legs shake and give way if I try to get him to stand. He's tried to reset his clock by staying up all night and all of the following day but then he just slept the next night and the following day!

I know I should have got it all sorted with the paediatrician but there were a lot of other things to discuss, he was running dreadfully late and this detail just got lost.

Has anyone reset a child/teenagers sleep schedule and how did you do it?

That sounds really difficult. I use Melatonin with my 13yr old son with ASD. It works for us (gets him to drop off - otherwise he is v difficult to settle) but I don't have any experience of the nocturnal issue.

Thank you for the replies. Stillstanding, it's good that melatonin works for your ds. I really hope it helps mine to maintain a better sleep schedule once he starts to get there.

Polter, I don't think anyone will give anything stronger until he's had a go with the melatonin. He's on a 2 week trial. At least it's Easter holidays so I don't have to get him into his online lessons. I will try to establish a better waking up time with him if it is at all possible during this next fortnight.

Ds managed not to fall asleep at his "normal" time this morning and he's aiming to stay awake until nighttime. I'll then give him the melatonin and I'll have to find some way of waking him up tomorrow morning. I can't say I'm looking forward to that part. Also it's the weekend when the clocks go forward so that sets everyone out of kilter. It's my oldest son's earliest start time for work on Sunday (and left to his own devices he'd be nocturnal too) so that's 2 of them to get up!

My DS is younger and we have not faced the nocturnal issues, but just a positive melatonin story for you:

We found melatonin had a miraculous effect on 8yo DS. No experience of the nocturnal issue, but we went from having hours of screaming meltdowns at bedtime, with no chance in hell of being able to implement any sort of "routine", and to the point where we couldn't even mention the word "bed" and had to let DS crash out from exhaustion on the sofa every night; to a (far more often than not) calm, structured bedtime, asleep by 8.30 ish most nights. That was within a few days of starting it.

I hope it has the same sort of dramatic positive effect for you. Good luck!

We used melatonin on ds who is 5. He was falling asleep at 12am ish so we started by giving it at 11pm, then 10pm etc.
Could you do the same with your son (give the dose at 3am, then 2 am etc but get a black out blind so the effect isn't counteracted by daylight?

Hope you find a solution-sounds like a really difficult situation.