Let's talk about melatonin

seeker

Thu, Oct 08 2015, 12:37 am

DD has long had a hard time winding down to sleep but it's particularly hard now when we've been out of routine for a while. There's been way too much kvetching and coming out of bed hungry or "hungry" or whatever. DH wants to try melatonin. I used to be kind of against it because I on't like the idea of artificial hormones, and don't want to create dependency, and worry about possible side effects even if I don't know of any specifically... whatever, I just felt like she needs to learn how to go to sleep from a behavioral angle and we'll figure it out. But I'm feeling the desperation as school resumes tomorrow and it's been a while since we've had a good night's sleep.

For? Against? Why? Talk.

Let's say we try it. How much? When? What form? For how long? Is there a way to avoid becoming dependent on it or do you just try your luck and hope for the best?

Tried it? Experiences? Share.

ra_mom

Thu, Oct 08 2015, 2:26 am

I've been back and forth over the fence with this. But we do currently use it because sleep just doesn't come.
Dr. Schulman says that sleep is crucial and it is safe to give melatonin or benadryl (test benadryl first as it can make certain children hyper instead of sleepy) to children who have trouble going to sleep. I'm more afraid of benadryl because of dosing.
We use the one in the white bottle with the purple lettering. Dosage is 1mg. Needs to be given 30 minutes before s/he lies down for bed. Don't extend that time.
It is not addictive. But if child didn't sleep beforehand without it likely they still won't sleep when they don't take it.

amother

Cyan

Thu, Oct 08 2015, 8:13 am

I once saw an endocrinologist (about myself, not a child) and he was against taking melatonin unless you had already done a test which showed an absence of melatonin in the body. He said it's very rare that people are actually lacking in melatonin. He told me that 1 mg of melatonin was fine without the test, but not to take more than that. I noticed that 1 mg is slightly more difficult to find than higher doses but I've stuck with this and never had a problem.
I'll tell you one thing that worked amazingly though: I got a weighted blanket. If your child has any sort of sensory issues (even mild) and has trouble relaxing/quieting his brain at night, I highly recommend giving this a shot. I bought mine through sensacalm online and was absolutely shocked by how effective it was for me. I take melatonin much less frequently these days and find myself going to sleep hours before I used to.

amother

Pink

Thu, Oct 08 2015, 8:21 am

my son is on the spectrum and has a really hard time falling asleep. I give him 1/4 of 1 mg! half hr before bed and it works very well. if I for get hes up for 3-4 hrs wide awake.
I read an article that stated that people are giving way too high a dosage. so try first a fraction of the 1 mg and see if that works.

flowerpower

Thu, Oct 08 2015, 8:40 am

I give it during school days for some of my kids. Otherwise they fall asleep at 2 am. I didn't give it all yom tov now and before 2-3 am there was no night. I give 1 mg and I am totally fine with it. I won't ever go up that dose. My preteen that took it for 2 years didn't mature early and I have yet to see side effects. Not every kid in the world needs it and it's not a babysitter though. It's made for kids that really cannot fall asleep.

amother

Lavender

Thu, Oct 08 2015, 9:00 am

Every child reacts differently.

I gave it to my three year old once as he was awake for too many nights already and I really wanted him to catch up on sleep, but it seemed to give him awful nightmares. It was dreadful to witness as he was lying in bed throwing himself about and screaming and there wasn't much I could do. He calmed down eventually but I'm afraid to give it again even though he's a very poor sleeper.

For one of my other children it worked wonderfully though.

seeker

Thu, Oct 08 2015, 9:06 am

amother wrote:

How do you come up with 1/4 of a mg? Smallest thing I saw in the pharmacy was 1 mg and those were dissolving tabs, not even sure if you can split them.

imasinger

Thu, Oct 08 2015, 9:25 am

You can split tabs with a pill splitter. The very low dose needs to be given a while before bedtime -- the thought is that it may stimulate the body's internal melatonin production.

Personally, I didn't have success with this approach. My 9 y.o. with ASD takes 1 mg, and my 13 y.o. with ADHD takes 3-5 mg (she needs something stronger to help settle whn her stimulant is wearing off).

My kids really benefit from melatonin. I did a lot of reading, and it seems as if serious thought is divided (I don't count the people who scream about every "artificial" substance, I mean scientists). Our psychiatrist recommends it as safe and harmless.

IMO, it is way better than either more powerful drugs like Clonidine, and living with a child who is short on sleep.

If you are trying all the behavioral suggestions (exercise early, relax close to bed, warm bath, maybe warm drink, low light, etc) without effect, then maybe you have a kid who just can't do it without help.

ray family

Thu, Oct 08 2015, 10:17 am

I have one child that cannot fall asleep. she'll lay in bed for hours on end.
I split a pill into anywhere between 4-6 pieces and give her one fragment. seems to be enough to relax her to fall asleep.

I've used it a few times w/ my other kids, but don't do so regularly

gande

Thu, Oct 08 2015, 3:03 pm

I give it to my dd when she is off schedule. Last night she woke up after an hour of sleep. I gave it to her, put her in bed a half hour later, and she fell asleep right away!! It's a sanity saver more than anything.
Every company has a different concentration so be careful with the dosing. Give the least possible at first.

seeker

Thu, Oct 08 2015, 7:55 pm

Supermom#1 wrote:

According to my very popular pediatrician in Brooklyn, it's OK to give a child a very low dose of melatonin just for a few days to get the child back into a regular sleep schedule but definitely not OK long term.

Define "very low dose" please.
I bought drops so I can have more control over dosing.It says 10 drops = 1 mg. For starters tonight just because we are in such a crisis mode I gave the full 10 drops to almost-5 DD and 7 drops to 3 DD. I'm willing to go with whatever works right now because the last few nights were impossible. But I want to stay on the safe side even while intervening.

UQT

Thu, Oct 08 2015, 8:12 pm

I was sick in the summer for a few weeks and my house became completely dysfunctional - bedtime was non existent. My five year old was completely off a schedule - going to bed at close to 10:30 when she collapsed. When I was back to myself I tried so hard to get her to sleep but nothing was working - it was a 3 hour nightmare that I dreaded each night. I contemplated giving her melatonin but I was hesitant to drug her.

Instead, I told my husband that from 7-8 we are both not doing anything except concentrating on putting her to sleep. It took an hour an a half the first week to get her in. You know how it goes - "can I just have an ices? I didn't get one today?" In the past I would let her and then she would disappear downstairs for a half an hour. Now I said 'no'. She would scream for 20 minutes which made bedtime even longer and I was thinking "should've just given her the ices 20 minutes ago'.

But with persistence and full focus - no phones, no other kids, we did it! She now goes to sleep in a half an hour and learnt that no good will come after we announce bedtime. She is the proud owner of a pretty bracelet because she finished her chart.

I'm not sure what is a causing your child to stay up - but if it's just brattyness - like wrapping mom around my pinky finger you may want to clear your schedule for the next month!

amother

Cyan

Thu, Oct 08 2015, 8:29 pm

Same amother as before...I'm amother because I've advocated for this to so many people I know and now that more people are posting about giving melatonin to their children, I want to reiterate how much a weighted blanket helped me. I highly encourage that people look into this to see if it's right for their child.
I wish that my parents would have known to get this for me when I was a child! I'm not on the spectrum, so when you google it, please don't automatically rule it out because your child isn't autistic or on the spectrum.
I always had trouble turning off my thoughts as a child and I could not fall asleep. I think the way the blanket works is that it gives your body enough stimulation so that it distracts the thinking part, if that makes sense. I made that up, but that's how I think it works. It's like your brain is seeking sensory input and the blanket satisfies that.
The first time I used it, I forgot that I didn't take melatonin that night. I was so tired (like twenty minutes later) and I thought the melatonin was kicking in...when I suddenly remembered I hadn't taken any! I don't have children yet, but if/when I do, I would definitely try this before resorting to melatonin. I would be concerned that continuously feeding the body melatonin could cause it to produce less on its own (not a medical opinion; just a guess).
The site through which I got the blanket custom makes them, based on your the weight of the user. It's not cheap, but probably cheaper than a lifetime of melatonin.