Melatonin - can anyone tell me how their child “feels” on it

[Lesley25]

My son is 11 and non verbal.
This Christmas break he has needed melatonin almost every night to stop the endless scripting and give his mind a chance to stop and sleep. He’s on the lowest dose 2mg.
Last night I decided to change our pillows (bear with me) and stop melatonin because he had been up since 3am and he was obviously v tired at 7. He slept so soundly ( i still sleep in his room, don’t judge me)
Till 7:30 from 8pm
He’s been really aggressive and his anger seems to be directed at me during the day and his sleep has been restless.
But I don’t know if I’m trying to see a connection that isn’t there.
I’ve ruled out illness, and I’m on the fence with the new pillows.
I just wonder if anyone out there has children who is verbal on melatonin and who can describe what being on melatonin feels like - negative or positive.
I did read a thread about some kids having night terrors. It’s such a godsend when we use it - I’m just wondering how they make my son feel and could there be a possibility they’re contributing to his aggression during the day? Long shot I know.

My 11 year old DS who has high functioning ASD (and is good at articulating how he is feeling) takes 3mg of melatonin each night. After the first few days, when he felt a bit sleepy during the day, he hasn’t reported feeling any different on melatonin (he’s taken it for almost 3 months now). We have only noticed positive improvements in his behaviour and concentration (although the melatonin is starting to be less effective in helping him to fall asleep). Hope this helps.

Thank you, that really helps.

I have an 11 hfa ds, diagnosed and started melatonin in July,

I’ve been monitoring his sleep with a Fitbit watch. It shows that his claims of frequent waking in the night are totally true,

We have 2mg Circadin, a slow release melatonin. Since starting, ds will sleep within 5 mins of lights out, instead of45-90 mins. He sleeeps, generally, ok till the early hours, then has lots of wakings again,

The doc told me I should phase themelatonin in, starting 15mins before his usual sleep time 10pm, then taking it back in daily increments of 15mins till his bedtime was where we wanted it to be. This worked brilliantly.

However recently, he had a day where he was tired out after tea at 6pm. I sent him to bed - did the entire routine, Including melatonin, but just an hour early. He was in bed, lights out by 745 Latest. He didn’t get to sleep till 9pm!

So, this waffle was intended to say I think melatonin helps as part of a routine. If you want to change sleeping times, do it In 15min steps, not a whole hour at a time.

Ps my son has nightmares, but he always has,even before melatonin. He could well be the next Stephen king, based on the dreams he tells me. I have no idea where they come from, he plays mine frat, a Lego game and reads vashti hardy, Tom gates, general young teen sci fi and fantasy.

Hi, I can't help I'm afraid as my DS 7 non verbal too, our experiences with melatonin have been up and down and I spend hours thinking what makes certain things/wakings happen, but I too have wondered if the melatonin makes him feel groggy/cross or makes his anxiety worse, but I'm not even sure how his anxiety manifests itself, I think it's what causes him to script manically . I also often feel a lot of these issues are also caused by sleep deprivation too, so confused 🤔

Thank you everyone. My son scripts manically too, I notice it a lot more in the holidays and I wonder (he’s non verbal) If it’s also anxiety about the day ahead.
Less scripting has happened since back at school which he loves.
I agree about the phasing in 15 min intervals when changing a bedtime- when we went abroad we had to do this also.
I do find one thing though, the scripting is a lot less when he’s had melatonin holidays or not- I thought it was because he has less time to “do his routine” of scripting as he nods off as the melatonin gives him the nudge he needs a lot quicker.
He’s also only on 2mg.
Tonight will be the test because he’s been awake since 3:30 this am and I’m not going to give him melatonin tonight.
I have also worked out that my son falls asleep much quicker after 15 hours has past since he’s been awake - he’s been like this since he was 2. It’s like the magic number.
Painful as it is to admit out loud, my son also can lash out and get aggressive just before sleeping - I found that a lot In The holidays and put that down to anxiety and the angst about the day ahead even though we had pecs showing him- that and combined with maybe his anxiety about whether school was starting soon or not, but it could well easily be the fact we have had 4 school changes In his life and he was anxious about which school was next. But that behaviour is much more frequent without melatonin also.
I’ll report back tomorrow!
I also do think there’s much more frequent waking after a solid 6 hour melatonin sleep then after a no melatonin sleep, especially after a few days on melatonin.

To be expected- a longer time to get to sleep, around 90 minutes instead of 30 with melatonin but a solid sleep less waking in The early hours.
I had expected going to sleep time to have been shorter with the previous days early rise. But that’s what melatonin does really well.