Melatonin

[BeccaSueCongdon]

Originally Posted by misskira Not that dr.oz is necessarily a reliable source, but they had a really interesting segment on melatonin last week I think. Its aid a lot of what my lovely is saying.

I've seen what Dr Oz has to say about melatonin.

Seems like pretty standard - use it as a last resort, don't abuse it sort of stuff.

And seems like the OP said her doctor prescribed it, so I assume there is a reason.

I'm sure there are people who abuse melatonin to help themselves sleep without having to make healthy lifestyle changes that support healthy sleep habits. But the OP was writing about using it for her kiddo under the suggestion of her doctor.

With that said - OP: I'm curious as to why your doc recommended melatonin, but then didn't give you instructions on dosing. We were given specific instructions from our developmental pediatrician in how to use it. A responsible care provider would have given you specific dosing info and a plan

ETA: I re-read your OP and see you we're just asking for our experiences, not asking for advice on dosing. Sorry for the misunderstanding. :-)

[BeccaSueCongdon]

Now to get back to the actual question from the OP:

We use it with our DS who is 4.5 and has sensory processing disorder, and possibly generalized anxiety disorder and odd (too young for a diagnosis).

We only give him 1mg bc that's we're we were told to start and it was effective at that dose. He went from screaming and throwing major tantrums at bedtime to cooperating with the bedtime routine and then falling asleep in his bed alone. He does still wake up a couple times at night and we don't give him anymore, so we're working on helping him stay calm in his bed so he can return to sleep.

[luvsviola]

Thanks ladies. Good things to think about.

[SaraElise]

I would try everything else under the sun before going the Melatonin route to make sure there isn't something else making it hard for them to fall asleep.

We ended up using it with my (then) 3 year old and it was a lifesaver. He went from staying up until 12 crying that he was tired and couldn't fall asleep, to being asleep by 8. We only ever used 1mg, and we used it to sort of reset him for 2 weeks and then as needed, NOT every night.

The side effects include vivid nightmares, so be prepared that could happen. My son never mentioned that he did, but my 21 year old brother says it happens every time he takes it and for him it's not worth it.

You can develop a tolerance to it (not dependency) and need to up the dosage every so often if it is not working anymore. We never experienced this, but also used it on an as needed basis after those 2 weeks.

A year later we haven't used it in 7 months at all, and we only have those super late nights every couple of months or so. Usually in those cases, there is another reason behind it.

Stick to a rigid bedtime routine and time when using it to make sure you are not using it instead of instilling good sleep habits, but to promote them.

[DalesWidda]

My 50 pound 9 year old sometimes takes 1.5-2 mg of Melatonin at night. She doesn't always need it but when she can't fall asleep within a reasonable amount of time I give it to her. It always helps.


ETA: my dd has ADHD/SPD

[kelpie169]

First night it worked great. 1 mg and in about 45 mins he was asleep. No fighting, no screaming, he's perfectly happy this morning...yay.
The doc suggested it since he's losing so much sleep due to fighting us. He was literally getting about 6 hours a day. Including naps-if he took one. So the problem was compounding since he'd be overtired and then not want to sleep even more.

[Rhianna'sMommy]

We started melatonin on ds about 4 months after a year of trying to fix bedtime. We tried all all the stuff mylovely suggested. Ds didn't fight bedtime - just couldn't fall asleep. He'd lay there in bed nicely trying for the better part of an hour before wanting us to help him and we'd rock him another hour. If we rocked from the beginning we rocked hom for 2 hours. He was so tired each day. If we tried starting earlier he just took longer to go to sleep. If we tried later, he still took 2 hours and just got less sleep.

Ds also has restless leg syndrome so we dealt with that first (in hopes it would also help bedtime). When we'd dealt with the restless stuff (not made it go away but significantly better) he slept an extra hour in the morning but we made no dent in bedtime.

With our pedi's blessing we give ds 1mg meletonin every night. Every couple weeks we try not using to see if he does better. Our pedi said he was 100% comfortable with us doing that low a dose nightly for ds. He did want us to come talk to him if we felt 1mg wasn't doing the trick anymore. He'd want to possibly run some tests to rule out other issues if we needed to bump up the doseage. He felt ds was a good canidate for a sleep aid of some sort and of all the options he felt melatonin was the best choice for us. We initially tried melatonin without talking with our pedi and it was amazing - we gave it to him before we started our routine and about 20 minutes after we turned lights out he was asleep (our bedtime routine takes about 20 minutes). Ds now is rested each morning. His temper tantrums have significantly gone down. His behaviour is 1000% better. Between fixing his restless leg stuff and the melatonin he's getting a good 2-3 extra hours of sleep now and it has made all the difference in him.

[syfitz]

My ds takes 1mg. I take 2-3. It works great for both of us. I never have issues getting up early. It mostly just settles my brain enough for me to fall asleep. Otherwise, I lay awake thinking about things I need to do, etc.

[BeccaSueCongdon]

I have also seen a 180* shift in daytime behavior with my DS. The sleep deprivation was really effecting his daytime behavior and our family in general. Unless you've had a child with sleep GENUINE sleep disturbances - and those caused by Nuerodevelopmental issues - you really cannot appreciate the significance/importance of having something low risk like melatonin. Yes, there ARE risks associated with the abuse of melatonin (like any other supplement). But the testing has been done on its use with children with Nuerodevelopmental challenges and the benefits have been demonstrated to outweigh the risks for those children.

[meeshkasheeba]

Originally Posted by BeccaSueCongdon I have also seen a 180* shift in daytime behavior with my DS. The sleep deprivation was really effecting his daytime behavior and our family in general. Unless you've had a child with sleep GENUINE sleep disturbances - and those caused by Nuerodevelopmental issues - you really cannot appreciate the significance/importance of having something low risk like melatonin. Yes, there ARE risks associated with the abuse of melatonin (like any other supplement). But the testing has been done on its use with children with Nuerodevelopmental challenges and the benefits have been demonstrated to outweigh the risks for those children.

This is us also. My son was a complete nightmare to deal with at home and at school. We don't watch tv dieting the week both boys take a bath with lavender eo in it and then read or play with animals in bed for about 20 minutes before lights out. Even with the schedule he couldn't sleep and I couldn't stand his behavior. I called his pedi told him what we were doing and he suggested we try it for a month and see how things went. They aren't perfect, but I don't mind spending the whole day with him anymore and he is not at risk of being kicked out of school anymore. I don't believe in labeling children unnecessarily but he is probably ADHD and definitely has sensory processing issues (I'm an OT) this has saved our relationship because he isn't constantly in trouble now.