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Daughter on Melatonin - consultant wants us to reduce dose

Coniston44

Hi there my 9 year old was diagnosed when she was 5 wuth autism spectrum - she has always struggled with sleep, meltdowns, social situations, obsessions over toys in line etc. She has never slept well since birth - her brain is always fizzing and struggles to sleep get to sleep and stay asleep this then impacts on her ability to cope with the world and gets over stimulated. The consultant yesterday is wanting to reduce her melatonin as she has been on 6mg for the last 2 years.

She is concerned of the long term effect on my little girls health to continue taking it - i am concerned that if she lacks sleep again her sensitivites and meltdowns etc will become amplified....

she has a poor diet of beige foods and the consultant wants me to try to naturally increase melatonin...

any ideas

  • Hi there, 

    I find that the melatonin only works if she is in a relaxed (as possible) state if she is fizzing or stressed/anxiety full they don't work as well. The consultant wants us to slowly reduce she said she is concerned over possible gut issues. She has been on a high dose since she was 5 as she would sleep at most 45 mins every few hours since birth.

    The consultant said that getting her into a place where she can relax and work through all the stimulation that she has had that day/week would be more beneficial to her than the melatonin. 

    She is always on the go even though her body is shattered she will still be bounding over furniture running around and fidgeting all the time. her intake of food is very limited which i know does not help but we keep trying.

    Its hard to try her on new foods as it totally stresses her out to the point she would starve herself - but i don't want any long term issues from being on a high dose of something.

    Its hard to get her to relax enough for her to go to sleep naturally even a bath stresses her out due to the feeling of water and the temperature etc

  • The long term effects of taking melatonin aren't great (and anyone working in the international flight business can tell you there are side-effects. Also the dependancy side shouldn't be ignored. Certainly at such a young age there might be more risks than we now know... So I'd try to go with your consultant. 

    I suppose you have tried to give her lots of daylight and physical activity during the day?

    There are plenty of melatonin-rich foods you could try. But I guess that is going to be a challenge with the beige food... but in those lists there are actually a lot of beige products.

  • Hi

    I have been trying to get melatonin for my daughter ( no diagnosis yet) she only sleeps about 3-5 hours a night (not at once)  and has been doing this for 5 years I also have the problem of biege food. 

    Banana has been said to help produce melatonin but not sure how many you would need her to eat. 

    Were the doctors going to drastically reduce the dose or do it slowly over a long period of time as this may let her adjust?

    Sorry not more help