New Meds for my lil man

Melatonin is one of those things that you only need a little bit of, for it to be effective. Even the adult dosages are usually only 2-3mg.

http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/psychology/health_psychology/melatonin.htm

Zhdanova (1995) conducted a study of healthy males with normal sleeping habits to determine the effects of melatonin on their sleeping patterns. The study was a double-blind placebo controlled experiment in three phases. All of the males were drug free, did not smoke and had an average diet. The average age of the subject was 26 years old. Zhdanova found that there was a large difference between the effects of melatonin and the placebo. The subjects who had the melatonin took a shorter time to fall asleep than those who had the placebo. The subjects fell asleep around 40 minutes faster than they usually did. The size of the dosage did not seem to matter. The lower dosages of melatonin worked as well as the larger ones. The dosage worked at 1 mg. The best time to administer the dosage was around an hour before bedtime. The subjects did not find any negative side-effects. The melatonin worked well in all cases.

You ought to bear in mind that if your daughter has side-effects from melatonin, these will likely increase with an increased dose.  Melatonin works for most children, but not all. 

My daughter started on this in june it was fantastic for the first couple of weeks  it was so nice getting her to bed on time before i would be lucky if she was in bed by 10.30. She is only on 2mg so she will need a higher dose. I felt guilty giving it to her for a start but it helped us both when she first started taking it i noticed that she felt warm and clammy and she seemed to wake more in the night scared but that calmed down. Fingers crossed when we see her doctor this month she will up it a little.

My 8yo has time-release melatonin and has had it for many months now.  She has no side-effects and it has worked miracles.  She started off on the quick-release one but that only got her to sleep it didn't keep her asleep, once she changed to the time-release one it worked.

Before melatonin, she was so anxious about going to bed she would perseverate about little problems from days before and would end up screaming and screaming many nights.  I would not go back to that for anything.  Her sleep problems undoubtedly made her daytime behaviour worse too, as a tired child is more prone to meltdowns and moodiness and general disagreeableness.

Hi.  I don't have experience of melatonin.  However a friend of mine uses it for her 7 year old.  All I know is that as soon as she gives her son his nightly dose she is assured that he will be asleep within 10 mins, and he won't wake up until morning.  So he gets a goods night sleep and so does she.  As to any side effects or long term dependency I don't really know.  I don't know how melatonin adjusts as it were for a childs changing wake / sleep cycle as they mature.  Artifically creating sleep would to some degree worry me.  On the other having a frazzled out mum who has been up most of the night is not good either.  Her GP has suggested that she starts to cut down on the dosage now, but she hasn't .. I can sort of understand why and won't judge her for doing so.  

My children where diagnosed when they were early teens so I had years and years of disturbed sleep.  They were never given melatonin and both now sleep really well.

Hope this helps.

Hi - I've no experience of melatonin.  Until someone comes along to help, you cd do a search via the top rh box. You'll find a number of posts about melatonin.  Hope this is helpful