Melatonin and ASD?

[Sunny4124]

Hi All,

DD (3.3) takes ages to fall asleep at night - generally over an hour of being cuddled, and often wakes up in the night, sometimes for an hour or two, or sometimes worse. She averages about 6/ 7 hours sleep, and I’ve read they’re meant to average about 11 hours at her age.

DP and I both work full time and we are knackered to say the least. I just can’t see an end to the sleep problems, and it seems to have an impact on everything (her mood, our mood, her concentration levels, her happiness, and just general household harmony). So, keen to get it sorted ASAP.

Has anyone asked their doctor for a prescription of melatonin? And has it worked? Interested in your experiences, thank you! X

In my area melatonin can only be prescribed by the GP on the approval of a paediatrician.

Most likely it will help her to fall asleep but there’s no guarantee it will prevent the night waking. Overall I would say my ds sleeps better when he takes it but he does still sometimes wake in the night and he still wakes early.

It’s worth a try if you can get it prescribed.

Thanks Open

I might see if we can get it prescribed! At the end of my tether, sleep is so important!

Anyone else have experience with their DC taking melatonin? Thanks!

We buy from abroad and it makes a huge difference to the length of time it takes 2.5 year old boy to fall asleep. Doesnt help with night waking though.

Hi MWNA
Thank you :-)

My son was prescribed it by a paediatrician. He was 10 and we were completely exhausted, it would take a few hours for him to get to sleep every night. He has mild ASD traits but switching off his brain was always a real issue; he'd stay in bed but just lay there awake.

It made a huge difference from day one, and life improved for the entire family. He was 10 though, which may make a difference. If he forgets to take it, it still takes hours for him to fall asleep so at 16 he still needs it.

for you, I remember well how hard it was before it got better.

Same as MWNA, we buy online from abroad. For us, we buy Eurovitals 1mg: can buy direct from them. It was a game changer for us with our 6 year old.

DD7 has never slept through the night.

She was ok-ish falling asleep, but only slept a few hours (3 or 4 at max). We were all on our knees.

She's taking circadian 2mg and has slept through the night from day one. We buy it online, but have a peds. appointment to discuss fairly soon.

Circadian is SLOW-RELEASE, which is key to keep them sleeping through the night.

Sorry, autocorrect there.

It's Circadin

We have Circadin here, it doesn’t always keep him sleeping through the night, and he does swallow it whole. He still wakes at 4 something most days too.

ds has melatonin. prescribed by peadiatrician. gp can only do repeats of it.

Same here. Melatonin from psychiatrist which GP has goals over repeat prescriptions once psychiatrist was happy.

Huge improvements here too. Previously ds8 (ASD) was extremely lively at bedtime whilst also being exhausted. Often up and down or just lying awake for hours, we were walking on eggshells so not to trigger a meltdown etc. He only takes a tiny dose but is calm and mellow at lights out and asleep within 10 minutes.

Hi All,
Just wanted to say thanks for all of your responses (Sorry for the delay!). Wow, some good experiences!
Going to try and get a paediatrician appointment ASAP and hopefully get some prescribed, thanks! :-)