Melatonin.

[AimeeM]

Has anyone any experience of this with their child? I am sceptical against meds for my kids but this sounds ok. I just worry about side effects. He has only been given a 1mg dose to begin with and it sounds pretty safe.

 

[suzib76]

My son has melatonin he started on 3mg but is on 6mg now. I was dead against it for along time but by the time agreed to try it I actually phoned the paed begging for it as I was at the end of my tether.

It's nt a drug as such, melatonin is produced by people naturally, only some dont produce enough so the tabs can help

We use this and he also has a weighted blanket and the combination of the 2 works well most of the time. I stopped putting his weighted blanket on in the summer as he was hot but for a few nights he didn't settle well, so yes, we use the combination of both

For us it has been life changing. Instead of spending 5 or 6 hours every night with him bouncing up and down the stairs he now goes to bed and is asleep by 9pm, he wakes early but after a good sleep so we can handle that

 

[vixxen]

This is one of the medicines that may or may not work for your child.
My son tried it and it just didnt work,he is now on equasym and risperidone.

 

[acesmum]

Hi. My son was born with costello syndrome, plus he had a supercolic so he was up all night, he sleeps at day time only if i cuddle him. i could never put him down because it really upsets him. one of the mum's in the costello listserve advised me to give him melatonin. apparently no side effect because its a natural hormone produced by the body. Its not a sedative but its a calming drug. i am against it until he was hospitalized. They started to give him the melatonin before he goes to bed to settle him and then he started to sleep on his own without being cuddled, he sleeps longer periods which is heaven for me as i was able to sleep as well and the best thing? HE IS HAPPIER! it made such a difference! i give him the drug every night and after 1 year i think he ir ready to be weaned off the drug. im doing it gradually and so far he still sleeps better.

 

[AimeeM]

Thank you. We started giving 1ml at night. That was my sons decision. I let him decide if he wanted it. So far it has done great. He now falls asleep at around half 8 instead of 11, half past 11. His anxiety has also reduced a lot and his general overall mood seems better. We aren't using it on a Friday and Saturday night as I don't mind if he is tired on weekends as it doesn't effect school obviously. I am not sure how long he will be on it or if there is a time frame considered safe but on a weekend he still has the sleep issues so it definitely hasn't 'reset his bodyclock' x