Melatonin - possible negative effects?

[khamps]

I would love to hear others experiences of Melatonin and if your child had any negative side effects? We were reluctant and have had the prescription ages but finally gave it a shot as he was bouncing in his cot for over an hour to 2 hours before sleep and we were worried he would break it.
We started 2mg a week ago for our 3 year old and it's been amazing for bedtime, however since starting it his behaviour in the day hasn't been great, reaching an awful stage today. He is non verbal so can't tell us if anything is wrong but he has been really manic and having epic meltdowns if we don't let him do whatever he wants (which is unlike him, he is normally a little rule follower).
Could this be him getting used to the melatonin or does it perhaps not agree with him?

Only a week into it ourselves, but no side effects like that. Tends to get very whiny after taking it as he goes to sleep but nothing at any other time.

Glad you haven't noticed any effects :)
We are going to try a week off and see the difference. It really is effective stuff but I think perhaps not right for us.

DD has recently started taking it. Sleep is much improved and so is her general demeanour. Not noticed any I'll effects yet although she's a teen so might process the drug differently.

Could you ask about lowering the dose?

In my (non personal) experience, melatonin is usually well tolerated. But it can cause headache and stomach pain which the manufacturer's say can happen in up to 1% of people who take it so it could be this.

If there's a medicines helpline for your ds's team then I would try that and see if they recommend a break (you might have already decided to try this).

Thanks for the response. Yes we have decided to stop using it and have definitely noticed a slight improvement in behaviour today.
To not put anyone off try melatonin, as it definitely did the job of inducing sleep, we think there may be something else going on too so are seeing the GP today as he looks so run down but is eating (loads!) and drinking plenty, it's always a bit of a guessing game as he never even slightly indicates where pain is when he has it (eg never touches his ear when he has an ear infection) we only realise as he is so relaxed normally and suddenly his behaviour deteriorates to the extreme.

I hope you get to the bottom of it. You can always try again when he's feeling more himself, as long as the GP or paediatric team think it's a good idea.