Melatonin

[Mich1986]

DD nearly 10, never been a great sleeper, is taking ages to fall asleep at night and constantly calling us upstairs. Diagnosed with adhd and unmedicated at the moment. Is it worth trying melatonin? Did your children get any bad side effects?

The only effect here was sleep. DC2 is fiagnosed as having AuDHD and jist coukd not settle for hours.

Tried Melatonin and they did get to sleep but woke again. Swapped to slow release Melatonin and they stayed asleep.

People wirh ADHD don’t typically produce enough Melatonin. You can help by making sure they get plenty of sunlight but if you’re in the UK, that is going to be difficult in January.

It’s sort of like giving Thyroxine if their levels were low or Insulin. The difference being the first two can be life threatening and a DC with chronic sleep problems can affect their MH and yours.

Is there a reason that they are I medicated too?

I think melatonin is worth trying.

My DC don’t experience side effects from it.

Mine doesn't have any side effects from it but is on a low dose.

Following for others suggestions. My son is same age , on meds and melatonin and still doesn't sleep. Was referred to paediatrician which gave us leaflets on healthy sleep habits. Which what we already tried.

Does he go to sleep at all? Have they tried a higher dose or slow release?

@LCB261 if melatonin (is DS taking prolonged release, immediate release or both?) is working, has DS tried any other medications to help with sleep?

You could request a referral to a sleep clinic.

My 3yo is on 4mg melatonin. Still doesn't sleep. No side effects though.

That must be so, so hard.

I think the most difficult part is you're fed this dream that once they have melatonin it'll be a magic cure for the sleep problems, and you fight so hard to get it going on all the sleep courses and months of sleep diaries, so when it doesn't work youre kinda left thinking "well what now?" 😅

@AntitheticalDreamgirl has DC tried any other medication to aid sleep? There are others you can try.

Just wanted to say that we have found that a LOWER dose of melatonin is more effective. I read something years ago stating that too high a dose could have the opposite effect than you wanted and we have found this to be the case for us. Our DC was initially prescribed 3ml and then 5ml but we actually give less than 1ml now and find it works better.

My daughter recently got put on melatonin and honestly it has been a godsend, she had been struggling to go to sleep before 3am and then she would sleep for 12+ hours. Now she has it between 8 and 8.20pm and asleep by 9pm at the latest.
I will say she has some nightmares and doesnt always seem settled in her sleep sometimes waking once or twice in the night so i may speak to her doctors about the slow release.
I hope this helps <3

We got the low dose melatonin gummies online. I know this isn't recommended but we were desperate as dd isn't yet diagnosed so no gp will prescribe until she's seen a specialist. Camhs wouldn't let her see anyone while she's awaiting assessment despite burnout, extreme anxiety and suicidal language. It was all exacerbated by poor sleep. 0.5mg a night has been a game changer for us. But if your child is already diagnosis and you have access to specialists, then definitely worth asking.