Does your child stay asleep with melatonin ( THROUGH THE NIGHT)?

Amanda - posted 3 minutes ago

My daughter has insomnia she is 20 months old and 32 pounds, I recently bought her 1mg natrol brand liquid melatonin I give her 1tsp and it does nothing. What am I doing wrong? Should I give her 2 tsp? Or should I get the 3mg of melatonin? I'm so lost and don't know what to do but I'm dying with no sleep I barely get 4 hours of sleep if I'm lucky :( Any advice helps!

Elizabeth - posted on 01/26/2013

I understand your issue here. My son was like that as well and is also autistic. Melatonin only induces sleep. It is not meant to keep them asleep for the entire night. I would say that he is having trouble sleeping for other reasons if he is not staying asleep after getting there. If he is having nightmares you could keep a small light on in his room that illuminates everything, decrease the temperature in the room (because it is more comfortable to sleep in a cool room with a blanket than in a hot one), and provide something that calms him. My son uses a weighted blanket to help him sleep. Have you spoken to his doctor about the problem because they can help without giving him medications? There are multiple things that you can try and determine what is best for him. I went through this up and down routine for quite a while before finding out what works. I used to drink a lot of coffee to keep up with him and my daughter. I would really ask his doctor if it is becoming a big enough problem because sleep deprivation is not only hard on us adults but worse for them. I wish you luck and hope you get some sleep soon.

Sabrina - posted on 01/23/2013

My 6.5 yr old son takes 3 mg of melatonin a day and its been like other parents say, a miracle. I personally have severe insomnia and I've seen it in him since he was only a few months old. It's truly heartbreaking to know I've passed my sleep issues on to him. He's been diagnosed with ADHD, however, he is not taking any meds for it and does fine in school. I think the diagnosis was not quite right or he may just have "mild" effects at this point.
That being said, my own doctor scared the hell out of me today. She froze when I told her about my son / the melatonin / the dosage. (The pediatrician told us to give him 3 mg... It worked... We never went down in dose.). My doctor brought up that she's seen seizures in adult patients. That was enough for me to lower his dose tonight to 1 mg and make an appointment to discuss with the pediatrician. I hope that since he's been taking the melatonin for 8 or so months, his body is used to normal sleep and the 1 mg will work just as good.
We've had such good results and I know he truly has a sleeping disorder. I am torn. I want him to be healthy and get a regular nights sleep. I did my research before initially giving him the medication and I still think the risks - whatever they may be - don't outweigh the benefits we see daily.
Anyone else have these same concerns?

Jan - posted on 01/23/2013

My 9 year old ds takes 3mg a night and my 2.5 year old dd takes 2 mg a night.
ds started at 3mg and we have never had to adjust it. DD started at 1.5 mg and then we moved up to 3 mg but that was too much because she woke up with nightmares, now we are using 2mg but she is still waking up if she is not in bed with us so I'm going to move up to about 2.5mg tonight and see how that works. we are using liquid drops so it is easy to adjust the dosage.

Lauren - posted on 01/22/2013

For all of you having trouble with your child staying up very late and having trouble staying asleep, please look into food sensitivities. My son had problems with dairy that presented with aggressive behavior, staying up until midnight, night waking, red ears, and other issues. It is possible that he has phenol transferase deficiency. Once I removed ALL dairy from his diet, his sleep drastically improved. Other foods like corn (even organic) can cause similar issues with his sleep. Plant based digestive enzyme therapy helps tremendously with his food sensitivities, but not with all foods (dairy had to be completely eliminated as well as gluten, though he can tolerate some wheat on rare occasions with enzyme therapy). I highly recommend the book "Enzymes for Autism and other neurological disorders". Here is a link on phenol transferase deficiency and symptoms http://www.allnaturaladvantage.com.au/Ph...

Hope this helps someone!

Lauren

Lorielle - posted on 11/27/2012

my daughter is 3 years old and I give her melatonin. I have been giving it to her for the last 1 1/2 years.... Ever since she was 6 months old she has had to take Zyrtec on a nightly basis (doctor prescribed, without it she was always sick ) but now that she takes melatonin and can get enough sleep she does not have to take the Zyrtec as often. Before I started giving it to her she would hardly sleep at night and wouldn't go to sleep until after midnight despite being up since 9 that morning. I don't like having to give it to her but if I don't she goes right back to staying awake all day(except for an 1 hour nap around noon) from 9 am to midnight and some nights she wont even sleep at all without it. What I don't like even more is the lowest dose I can give her is 5mg any lower and it doesn't work. But it helps her so until there is a better alternative that is natural like melatonin that helps her sleep so she don't get sick all the time I am going to continue to give it to her.

Sarah - posted on 11/06/2012

We've had sleep problems with my son and used Melatonian for a few weeks. As you stated it would help him fall asleep, but then he began waking up for hours in the middle of the night with an anxiety that grew to tremendous perportians of crying, screaming, and he had few words at that time and couldn't tell us what it was. We were getting less sleep then when it was just the problem of him not getting to sleep for a couple hours.

A friend of mine I told this too and she said she had tried Melatonian in the past and it made her star waking in the middle of the night feeling anxious too. She suggested we try "Calms Forte", a homiopathic sleep aid with no side affects and no melatonian. We did and it works well wih him.

It took a while to get the Melatonian effects out of his system, and we don't even have to do the Cams Forte every night now. We did for a few months and now he's more trained to fall asleep and stay asleep. Now, we only give it to him if he seems keyed up or had a rough night the night before which does happen every few months.

Good luck!

Beth - posted on 10/29/2012

I don't know if I already posted this but melitonin isn't designed to keep them asleep it helps get there but not stay there. have any of you tried putting on soft music on repeat all night long?

Dawn - posted on 10/25/2012

I have a u yr autistic boy &most all this rings true 4 me 2!he is on clonidine & melatonin.has never slept thru the night only when he was on anti-psychotics!I didn't feel comfortable w him on them..

So here we r..sleepless again in Ny!ugg

Dawn - posted on 10/25/2012

I have been giving my son (autistic & 7 yrs old)3 Mg melatonin since he was 4 maybe earlier and it does help him get 2 sleep but..he still wakes up during the middle of the night...since birth!!..it only lasts so long.

Katherine - posted on 02/02/2012

Now that is a wonderful thing for moms or dads who have troubles with thier kids sleeping schedule

Michelle - posted on 02/02/2012

Melotonin is over the counter. It is generally sold in the vitamin aisle of a store. Melotonin is something your body produces naturally but some people don't produce enough of it. It helps you to fall asleep (but is not a sleep medication by any means). It can also regulate your bodies clock (if you took it at 8 every night it would train your body that 8 was the time it needed to go to sleep). It's worked miracles for my son. He sleeps every night all night and his body has taken over to the point where we've been able to cut his dose a lot.

Katherine - posted on 02/02/2012

Now I am not familiar with melatonin, is this something that is prescribed by a doctor that is meant for kids or is it a over the counter drug that parents are givig to their kids because they dont sleep well?

Tori - posted on 02/02/2012

My daughter is 6, No learning disorders, No behavioral problems at all, infact she is very smart! She just doesn't sleep well. She never did sleep well, even as a baby. However, she would sleep until maybe 4-5:00 am before waking, but she would go pretty much right back to sleep. This past April, she started sleeping all night in her own room, it lasted for 7 months, then she started waking up again, but this time she would be up for HOURS. She does have a little anxiety. Dr. Started her on .5 of Melatonin...plus she had a little cold so we gave her some "night time" meds. She still woke up within 2 hours of going to sleep, and was up for hours. I cannot leave her bed, until I know she is back asleep, or she is back up again. We are trying desperately to find out what is causing this. So far no evail, even with thearapy. She says she's not really having bad dreams, she doesn't wake up crying, she just wakes up and won't lay there and go back to sleep. She finally goes to sleep and wakes about 9:00 am completely refreshed, like she has had the best nights sleep.

We are going to try to up the dose to 1.0 tonight and put on a "soothing sounds CD" and see what happens. I don't want her to start having night terrors, or anything else that would cause regression! I am a stay at home home, she is home schooled and I have other children in the house. Lack of sleep is getting to me and to everyone else!! Any suggestions???

Michelle - posted on 01/13/2012

My son uses melotonin and it works well for him. It helps them fall asleep, but doesn't keep them asleep by any means. My husband has a sleeping disorder where he can't reach REM sleep on his own and needs medication. My son has similar issues and luckily the melotonin helps him (otherwise he's up until midnight or later and then half the night besides). If his sleep problem is different then needing something to get to sleep the melotonin is not going to be a lot if any help. Maybe talk to his doctor and see if there's another natural treatment he can use (tryptophan or valerian root or something). I hope you find something that works. I remember those days.

Shannon - posted on 01/12/2012

I have provided Melatonin on and off to my children over the years (once I discovered it at Costco & checked with my family Dr), as with my daughter her night awakenings were so frequent (3 - 6x's/night on and off until she was 11.5yrs old) that I was also advised to try Gravol for 3 - 5 nights to try to establish a routine. I found that the Gravol made her groggy enough to sleep for longer periods once she was asleep, but was concerned about long term affects.

As posted elsewhere, I found that by playing quiet lullaby or classical music CD's (on repeat) in my children's rooms during sleep time (nap and night time) provided me with the confidence that the baby monitor was working as well as provided comfort if/when they did wake up - the dark and quiet would be too much for them and they were scared. Out of my 3 children, my daughter had the worst time sleeping alone (mind you she does have a developmental delay and we had to move as a result of her father and I splitting up). She would always start off in her room, but would come to me multiple times in the night for years. Once I stopped worrying about it and insisting she go back to her bed, we both got more sleep! I am happy to report that she now plays her own music (Justin Beiber) and stays in her room all night (unless she is sick). She will be 13 this spring.

Bec - posted on 01/09/2012

hi fu

Tracy - posted on 01/08/2012

Both of my kids take melatonin (circadin) at 4mg each, my eldest 13 sleeps through the night, whilst my youngest 9 still has the odd moment of waking up during the night. It's a godsend compared to how they both were prior to taking it.

Bonnie - posted on 01/04/2012

melatonin never even worked at all with my daughter

Cindy - posted on 01/04/2012

My 17 year old Aspergers son has NEVER slept through the night from the time he was a baby, he used to get up int he middle of the night when he was a preschooler and wake his sisters up and start playing. It drove us nuts! And now that he is in high school he will stay up all night playing video games and watching TV and sleep during school. We discussed melatonin with his doctor and decided to try him on 6 mg but that gave him a major headache and he didn't sleep. He has a lot of sensory issues, including a very high reaction to medication, so we reduced the dose to 3 mg. and he has been sleeping through the night for the first time ever! It has been working for the last two months and getting him up in the mornings has been so much easier. It has made all the difference in the world.

Bobbi-Jo - posted on 01/03/2012

My 11 yr old and 9 yr old have been taking Melatonin on and off for several years. My 11 yr old has high functioning Autism, bi-polar, ADHD, sensory intregration disorder and a lot of allergies (we go to the allergist at least 2x a yr). He is now up to 9mg at night. We started at 3mg but that did nothing. 6mg worked for a short period of time. But 9mg seems to be the magic number. He is very small for his age... only 3 1/2 feet tall and 50lbs but he needs the full 9mg's to fall asleep and stay asleep. My 8 yr old has mild asthma and severe allergies. When he has trouble sleeping he takes 6mg. It may seem like a lot but children with Autism at one point of another in their life will have trouble sleeping and many of them (like my son) have a very high metabolism which makes it neccessary for a larger dose then another child the same size and age.



UPDATE

My son has now started taking something to help with his bi-polar and it makes him sleepy. However we still have to give him 3mg-6mg of Melatonin a night to help him fall asleep. He has also started waking up again on and off through the night. At least with the Melatonin in his system he is usually able to fall asleep within 1/2 hour of waking. Except during the full moon, he seems to be up constantly, and I'm not even going to tell you the change in his mood and attitude during it.

Beth - posted on 01/02/2012

Melatonin isn't for staying asleep it's to get them to fall asleep.
This is what our Dr told us.

Margarite - posted on 12/28/2011

Sleep? What is it like? Our dd is 51/2 and hasn't slept through the night since she was 5 months old. She would cry thrash and scream until 2-3 am. When she was 17 months I started her on 1.5 mg melatonin. I was 7 months pregnant with our 4th child and desperate! The first night she fell asleep in 20 minutes and I stayed up for hours watching her sleep afraid I had over medicated her. About the time I fell asleep she woke up screaming, but I was able to get her back to sleep quickly. Over the past four years we have tried combinations of clonidine/melatonin...the clonidine was almost a year and it just wasn't working. She woke an hour after she fell asleep and then about every hour until 4am when she would fall asleep until 10 am. She also was very aggressive, biting pulling hair etc...clonidine can cause aggression according to the neurologist so we switched to risperdal/melatonin combo. The aggression decreased but we still have waking after 1-2 hours and waking around 2-3 am. She will sleep after this until 9 am or so. We've been using risperdal for about 18 months. I just today had another change in meds as the risperdal isn't covering the sleep or aggression. We are starting a trial of trazadone, I am crossing my fingers that we have luck with this though after being sleep deprived for 6 I'm not too optimistic. I do know though that melatonin does cause nightmares if the dose is too high. Before we started the trazadone the neurologist wanted me to increase the melatonin. We are doing 3mg right now and just adding 1.5 mg she woke screaming and thrashing for 2 hours straight. We did this for 2 nights and I dropped her back to 3 mg. The way we manage to get any sleep is we've brought her into our room with us- for two reasons, 1) she would have to share a room with her other two siblings as we only have a 2 bedroom house and she kept jumping on the baby and 2) I was completely exhausted going into the girls room 3-4 times a night to put her back to sleep. Now she falls asleep in my bed, I put her in hers and anywhere from 1-3 hours later she wakes and climbs into bed with us...definitely NOT your ideal sleeping arrangements, but when you're desperate...it works.

Felicia - posted on 12/20/2011

My son is not severely autistic but was just diagnosed with an autistic disorder. His doctor put him on melatonin because he had problems staying asleep. It did not help him stay asleep and when we went to the neurologist she put him on Kolotopins. That seems to be helping him stay asleep at night. The melatonin only helped him fall asleep faster. It didnt have any nasty side effects. I didnt notice anything different with him. I would talk to your doctor or if your son goes to a neurologist about other ways to help him stay asleep. They are doing a sleep study on my son and maybe you could talk to the doctor about that also to rule out anything else. About the doseage my son is on 8mg of it. Now that he is on the other medication i only give him 4 which is what they had started him out at. But i would try to talk to the doctor more about his sleeping situation. I fought for 2 years to get my son the treatment he deserved and i wont stop fighting. So keep your head up it does get easier with time.

Amanda - posted on 12/20/2011

My 9 year old has been taking Melatonin since he was about 3 1/2. We started on the liquid and moved to the pills. He's up to 3mg and it's the only thing we've found that works to help him sleep. He's a little restless at night (moves around a lot, talks in his sleep), but doesn't wake up at all. We had tried Clonidine at one point, but it simply knocked him unconscious within minutes of giving it to him and also increased night terrors. It was horrifying to watch this little guy go from awake to unresponsive in the blink of an eye. We did find that it's important to keep the other comoponents of a good circadian rhytm intact to help the Melatonin along. So, for instance, we lower the temperature in his room at night, b/c his body doesn't seem to lower its own core temperature like it's suppose to support sleep.

Kelly - posted on 12/18/2011

Alexis, 300 times???? Wow. Funny thing is I just told my husband that we should ask about that. 2 nights ago he woke up starting at 1am, and woke up crying or yelling for me 6. By 5am I gave up trying to sleep myself. Most wakings are usually bad dreams, wanting water.....or just wanting me to comfort him. Does your child have autism spectrum disorder? I know poor sleep is a common complaint parents have of their children on the spectrum. I wonder if anyone has had a 2 yr old tested befor. Im very curious of my sons sleep pattern. Has your son improved at all after learning of his sleep pattern?

Alexis - posted on 12/18/2011

My 9 y/o son has always had a hard time staying asleep. Even on nights where he does sleep, he doesn't get REST. He seems to wake up, but not fully. Kind of like tossing/turning where he's not staying in the REM sleep for long enough, if at all. Have you had a sleep study done? We had one once, about a year ago, and we'll be getting a second one in a few months. It showed my son "woke up" 300 times during the night. Yes, I typed that right..three hundred. Not fully awake mind you. They blamed it on his allergies, but didn't fully diagnose him with sleep apnea. So they put him on Nasonex and a prescription allergy medicine (the name escapes me at the moment). He took that for the last year, but grew out of them. He's on a new allergy med that doesn't work. I give him a 3 mg pill of Melatonin on nights where he just can't fall asleep, or complains of anxiety. Sometimes I give it to him if I know he hasn't slept well the past few days, just to try to get him some decent rest. He is also on Intuniv 3 mg for ADHD, Fluoxetine (Prozac) for anxiety & depression, and Rhisperdone (Risperdal) for his emotional/behavioral issues (tantrums, aggression, etc). You may want to check with your pediatrician about getting a sleep study done. Usually its done through a pediatric neurologist. Just another avenue to try!

Kelly - posted on 12/16/2011

Well thats a great question. I first took Chase to the allergist trying to pin point what was wrong with him. He would grab his head, scream constantly, grab his ears and had a runny nose. One thing we discovered was that he didn't have food allergies as suspected, but was allergic to dogs (we have a yellow lab). The allergiest said that we didnt have to get rid of her, but that he should be on zyrtec. So we started with that med and after a while I thought it was causing his symptoms to get worse because his night wakings were very aggresive. But then when I did a trial of being on vs off thats when I realized it was a condition of his that was not related to his allergy to dogs. He gets upper resp infections in the winter (like all kids) and last winter it lasted for a few months. He had gotten an upper resp inf a while back and it had gotten to the point he needed breathing treatments because he was choking and vomiting up the phelm. So the dr added singulair in prevention of possible asthma, on top of adding benadryl to his melatonin to help sleep. Im not feeling all that comfortable with all the meds already (even thou they are not that strong) only because he is only 2. But I have noticed how well his cough has subsided and hasnt come back yet. But in response to reading your post sarah, I have to agree that even with benadryl it is a hit or miss on his sleep. I have now for the past few days tried a weight blanket at night. He is just a constant restless sleeper that I havent figured out how to keep it on top of him. Last night we woke up twice (that is a good night for us), and that was after swimming from 730-8pm followed by a hot shower and meds for bed.

Sarah - posted on 12/16/2011

Ruby I forgot to say that Bynadrill makes my son and me hyper. It has the opposit effect on us. I've heard on many autistic kids it doesn't work. So melatonin and Bynadrill may be a real bad combo inhibiting sleep instead of helping.

Ruby - posted on 12/16/2011

My son just got prescribed singulair for asthma issues, Kelly why was yours prescribed singulair?

Kelly - posted on 12/15/2011

Hi everyone. I just joined this group and was so excited to read other mothers having children with sleep issues. My son just turned 2. Mild autism diagnosis. Hasn't slept threw the night sence he was born. We added melatonin back in June/July. He gets 0.25mg. This helps him fall asleep most of the time, but hasn't allowed him to sleep all night on a consistant basis yet. He use to wake up and hurt me (kick, scream, cry....) but that has subsided 99% with a few wakings like that perhaps 1-2x a month so far now. That has been a great improvement, but still waiting for him to sleep all night. Very exhusting to wake 1-4 x a night for the past 2 years. I continue to talk to the pediatrician who said last month she consulted with a big hospital group and said to add benadryl at night. My son is already on zyrtec, singulair, melatonin and now benadryl. I have to wonder if there is something better? The benadryl doesnt seem to work all that well either. Just happy to be able to share my frustration with other moms who dont sleep either. Unfort. my son only is comforted by me (FOR EVERYTHING....sever seperation anxiety with me to be honest), so I cant share the wake up duties with my hubby. I read sleep difficulties is a symptom of autism???

Ruby - posted on 12/03/2011

MB thank you:)
I love receiving answers not only because they offer solutions but the sharing makes me feel I am not alone. There are people like me out there struggling with their loved ones and understand what I am going thru.
Thanks everyone!

Jules - posted on 12/03/2011

HI, I have a 6yr old very intense child who has struggled with sleep since birth. If he doesn't take meds he doesn't sleep he naps for maybe an hour if lucky.
In Australia Melatonin is a controlled Script Drug unless homeopathic made.
There is a LONG ACTING (script) one to keep them asleep. I've been told the normal one is just to get them to sleep - hence some kids wake up shortly afterwards.
So 2mg LA melatonin
and I hold a bottle of homeopathic level 5mg tabs to use as needed (had to important from US)
We did find that he must have clonidine as well! (Get Doctors Advice) as either on their own does NOT put him to sleep (told you he was intense :-)
With both meds he goes to sleep and can sleep 10hrs WOW and wakes up NON groggy.
The Clonidine has an ADHD property, which may be why it works to help my child calm to sleep deeper.
I hope this has helped and not hindered you.
GOOD LUCK
SLEEP DEPRIVATION is awful.

Ruby - posted on 12/01/2011

Samantha, how many mls of melatonin were you giving her?
Did you find another option to help your daughter stay asleep through the night?

Samantha - posted on 12/01/2011

I had the same problem with my daughter it worked great to fall asleep but she was getting up every night between 1 and 2am and would stay awake for an hour or two then go back to sleep. i stopped giving it to her after awhile bc it wasnt helping her stay asleep it was just helping to fall asleep

Katherine - posted on 11/27/2011

I had no idea you could give a child melatonin. WOW! good luck on finding something to work with sleeping.

Ruby - posted on 11/27/2011

Christina, my son desperately needs his sleep and ofcourse we do too, that's why I want to give melatonin one last real shot before moving on to serious meds.

Camilla, he does get alot of exercise and he really knocks himself out it makes a difference of about an hour more in his sleep, that's it!!

Camilla - posted on 11/27/2011

Ruby, I have given my son who has had trouble sleeping for years melatonin and we had to increase the dose for him to get him to a point to where he could rest. I have to ask you how much exercise is he getting? When my son was younger I let him go out and just run around - which help a lot as well. Something about the air that does it. As a Teen I can't really tell him much. :-)

Christina - posted on 11/27/2011

I understand your hesitation about medication as I felt the same way. But nothing worked for my child, he would be up until 3:00 am, he wasn't getting his sleep and neither were we. I decided to follow his doctor's recommendation and I now give him 0.1 mg of clonidine at bedtime. It works wonderfully. He's asleep within an hour and sleeps all through the night.

Ruby - posted on 11/27/2011

Dori thats exactly what's scaring me, nightmares and panic attacks . Thanks about the tip of calme forte I will discuss it with my husband and see.

Ruby - posted on 11/27/2011

Wow 10 ml!! I was afraid to give him 2 ml:) so you think the answer would be increasing the dose?

Sarah - posted on 11/25/2011

Yes, I gave my son 1 mm of Melatonin and thought it was wonderful at first. He fell asleep quickly. After about a week he started waking up and seemed scared and couldn't talk about it and would bang his head against the wall and cry.
I talked to an adult friend I know that had tried it and had problems and she said she woke up with panic attacks in the middle of the night and that's why she stopped taking it.
She suggested "Calms Forte", which is a homiopathic sleep aid with no side effects. She's been taking it for years now. My son has been on it for 2 months and sleeping well. No waking in the night or panic attacks.
I waited till I thought the Melatonin was out of his system.
I crush up on pill of "Calms Forte" in an hour before bed time snack and feed it to him. He's always hungry and needs a little snack to help him sleep too.
Someone suggested you get an alergy test before you try "Calms Forte". We didn't, but my son has no known alergies or sensitivities. Good luck!
She

Dori - posted on 11/25/2011

we had the problem of our little guy falling asleep would take sometimes 3 hours for him to calm down enough he would roll and roll hold his eyes open we started giving him meletonin about a year ago and we see huge diff if he hasnt napped we give him 5 mg and if he has we give him 10 mg and he sleeps at least till 6 am . it was tricky at first as ppl say the meletonin resets your sleep clock but after a week or two he was out with in 20 mims good luck to you