*EDITED* Melatonin for Sleep

I took melatonin for sleep when I was younger and very healthy. It made my knees/joints so weak I could hardly walk! It was very scary. I would stay away from it and ask a doctor!

Generally I'd say most people under the age of 30 make all the melatonin they need and would not need to supplement it. We produce less of it as we age (and by age I mean 30's and 40's). I'd never think to give it to a child unless a doctor specifically told me I needed to and I'd be afraid it might mess with their growth and development. For kids, tiring them out with lots of exercise is the best way I can think of to get them to sleep more soundly.

I have been using melatonin to help my 8 year old daughter fall asleep. She was diagnosed with ADHD- inattentive type (not medicated.) She has had a difficult time falling asleep since infancy. Like your son, she was up for hours at night. She was very tired and cranky in the mornings from lack of sleep.

I tried numerous things (bedtime routines, white noise, relaxation techniques, increased exercise during the day, etc.) to help her fall asleep before trying melatonin. Nothing worked.

Like you, I did a lot of research and found the results mixed. I did learn that kids with ADHD often have sleep issues and often do not produce enough melatonin naturally. I figured I would try it.
I started giving her 3mg of melatonin 30 minutes before bed and then I would read to her. The difference was amazing. After 20 minutes she is stretching, yawning and sleepy. She falls asleep within minutes and sleeps through the night.

She has been using melatonin for about a year now. She takes 6 mgs right before bed (She has grown since we started - so the dosage increased) She is asleep within 30 minutes. I have not noticed any negative side effects.

Hope this information helps you. Good luck.

T. Y
SAHM of 4 (9yrs, 7yrs, 2 yrs and 3 months)

There was a report on the news the other night about melatonin, valerian root and rose hips - people are mixing & matching herbal/natural treatments and getting into trouble. Please be careful about this. Liver damage and other problems can result. I understand why you don't want to medicate your child either - that has a whole lot of side effects. My friend treated her son's ADD nutritionally because she did not want him medicated either. Another friend is treating his son the same way and they are making strides. Another friend of mine treated herself for sleep issues and wound up with a vaso vagal synchope, injured herself in the resulting fall, and wound up in the local hospital and then transferred to the cardiac unit at a major trauma center. The cardiologist just about fell over when she found out what my friend had done to herself. My friend is now - yes, you guessed it - using the nutritional route. The trick is to use one single balanced nutritional supplement and not to take individual ingredients and try to do it yourself. I only know of 1 supplement that qualifies (there are formulas for kids and adults). Without a PhD in food science, we tend to make major mistakes and get ourselves in trouble. Good luck whatever you decide.

Definitely consult your child's pediatrician before medicating your child. I have read that melatonin should only be given to children who have a neurodevelopmental disorder or a sleep disorder. There are very few studies of the safety of the use of melatonin in a healthy child who is just having trouble falling asleep--and those studies were very short in duration, so long term effects are undocumented. I would be reluctant to give my child melatonin unless absolutely necessary, and would try other methods first, such as behavioral change, sticking to a routine, etc, because of possible side effects in children that are documented such as very vivid nightmares, headaches, somach upset, irritability, depression, and delayed puberty. You might want to consider asking your child's pediatrician for a referral to a sleep specialist before beginning the use of melatonin. And if you do decide to take it, check with your pharmacist for any reactions it might have with any other medication your child takes. Good luck and hope everyone is sleeping well soon ! :)

My daughter started with melantonin at age 9. A medical condition was cauing her issues with falling asleep. She takes 2 milligrams nightly. We have tried 1 mg, but it doesn't seem to be quite enough for her. Our doctor did tell us to start with the smallest possible dosage, and to not exceed 5 mg. If you haven't already done so, I encourage you to consult with your child's doctor to see whether and how much melatonin may be appropriate for your child's circumstances. It has proven to be very effective for my daughter, and she is a much more pleasant person to be around since she started getting more sleep. However, I tried 1 mg tablet once for myself, and I felt like I was walking around in a trance or fog the entire next day, and would avoid taking it again myself. Even if it does help the child get to sleep, be sure to monitor how his/her behavior is during the day.

My daughter age 3.5 takes melotonin and has since she was 2.5. She began having incredible sleep issues around 20 months and we have seen our pedi and a sleep specialist at the Ferber clinic at Boston children's. Both dr's (my pedi and the sleep specialist) recomended melotonin for our daughter and it has worked wonders for her. We use a 3 mg pill (which I buy at whole foods- be sure not to buy caplets) and I crush it and put it in yogurt about 30 min before bed. I have also heard of people putting it (crushed) in milk but I try and avoid extra liquid at night. She has never objected to taking it. People who have not had children with sleep issues can sometimes be very judgemental and act as if you are just "drugging" your child, please disregard this. AS the sleep specialist explained to us the hours of sleep that are lost are crucial for our children's development not to mention incredibly frustrating for the parents.
Good luck

As a pharmacist, I would add that something you need to keep on mind before giving your children any supplements is that they are not FDA approved. In other words, they do not go through the same testing that medications do, since they are supplements.

I don't say this to stop you from using them, as many of them are safe (and I'm not aware of any problems with melatonin), just be sure you thoroughly research things before you give them to anyone, and if you do buy them, be sure to get them from a reputable company.

This is an article from USA today that talks about the FDA and supplements:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-03-03-fda-supple...

I see from your update that your child has ADHD, and if he is being medicated for that, he may need a change in his regimen, so talk with your doctor. That might be the best first step for you. If you have any questions about his meds, feel free to email me privately, I can at least give you an idea if it might be causing a problem. The ironic thing about the meds used for ADHD is that they are stimulants, which seems contradictory.

I think the most important thing is a consistent sleep routine. It sounds as if his body clock is a little out of whack. These may be obvious, but just in case, eliminate caffeine from his diet if you haven't already. Try to get him out in the sun earlier in the day to reset his body clock. These are jet lag tricks which can help. Good luck.

And personally, I have tried melatonin, and it didn't seem to work for me.

I have used melatonin for my own sleep troubles..i.e. going to sleep. It does work for me and is great as it only stays in your system for about an hour. (I am not drugged all night unable to wake up if my kids need me). But that may be a problem for you, if he won't stay asleep.

If you do end up trying it, I suggest the kind that dissolves under your tongue, and just give him about 1/8th of a 1mg tablet or less, according to my research an adult only needs a fraction of a mg...I take a 1/4 of a tablet at 130 pounds and it works really well.

Good luck...my son stays up to all hours and he doesn't have adhd...I am hoping once school starts he will be tired in the evenings...or I will be right there with you.

Hi AG,
Is your child currently being medicated for ADHD? If so, tell the MD about your child's insomnia. Sometimes, ADHD medications or the medication schedule (time of day they get their meds) can effect other realms of the child's life.

Good luck!
t

My 2 year old has a sleep disorder and takes clonidine and Melatonin. Our ped and recomended it so I would discuss it with the dr first.

Melatonin is not to be given to anyone under the age of 16 and even then should be with a doctor's approval.

My son has autism and with autism, you also can have sleep issues. We've been in much the same situation as you. Or doctor recommended giving our son a 2.5 mg sublingual tablet 30 minutes before bedtime to help him go to sleep. Our son is 6-years old and weighs 60 pounds.

What I have found with melatonin is it does make him drowsy and able to go to sleep but it doesn't keep him asleep. In fact, when he takes melatonin, he usually wakes up between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. and wakes us up with him since he can be very loud and a whirlwind of energy when he is awake. I also understand that your body can build up a tolerance to melatonin so it's better if you don't use it that frequently if that's possible.

Have you tried giving your son a warm epsom salt bath before bedtime. About 1/2-cup to 1-cup in your bath water is supposed to help relax your muscles and helps you to go to sleep.

Hope this information helps.

try talking to your sons dr since he is adhd there might be something that can be done about it my daughter is adhd also and i have the same issues

melatonin gave ME WICKED dreams. a friend told me this (laughing) kids need to be run like dogs. did you run your kids?
get a trampoline, take them running, get that energy out.
you didn't say how old your son was... i'd cut out sugar and avoid dairy near bed time. no naps. good luck

This is a pretty controversial subject. My son also has ADHD though he IS medicated. They have found that children on the autism spectrum tend to have a lower level of naturally produced melatonin in their body. I haven't been able to find any research on it concerning ADHD but I know that High functioning end of the spectrum and ADHD can mimic each other often, so my theory is that this is possible to be true in children with ADHD as well. I have found that my child was not sleeping well before starting meds, but that it worsened with the methylphenidate. When I questioned my doctor about it though he prescribed Clonidine, which I really did not like the idea of. My son became horribly constipated. His pediatrician was not comfortable with trying the melatonin though due to it not being FDA approved. When we started seeing a psychiatrist for med management she was under the belief that it was better for him than the clonidine. It really seems to work for my son - we started out taking 1/2 of a 3 mg - but have worked up to two 3 mg. We find that when he gets the time-released kind then he only needs 3 mg. The thing with the time-released is that it cannot be split or crushed or it will lose the ability to release slowly. I find my son awakes more often in the night if he doesn't have the time released. If your child can swallow pills I would try it. I got it from GNC and also from Axis Natural foods. Shaw's also USED to carry a time-release brand. Feel free to message me personally if you have any other questions or just would like to talk to another mom with an ADHD child!

My 10 almost 11 yo daughter has ADD and is medicated for school, only. She has a terrible time of getting to sleep. I have ADD too and I'm not medicated. I do know exactly what she means when she say's I cant quiet my thoughts enough to settle down. I extended my bedtime 1 hour later so when i go to bed I am just exausted, physically & mentally, and I get to sleep in 30 minutes or less now, rather than an hour or more, like my daughter. With kids we can't extend bedtimes during the school year, and it used to frustrate my husband and me to no end, we felt like bad parents like our child isn't getting the amount of sleep she needs. Sometimes she's grouchy and I know she hasn't had enough sleep, but we can't make a person sleep. I usually take any thing she can play with, out of the room, and that helps. I did some research on Melatonin too. I bought the 3ml and give her 1. I did read that if you take too much it will have the opposite effect. We don't give it every night, again I read every other, as not to interrupt her own melatonin production, and building a tolerance to it. She fell asleep quickly and quietly more than 1/2 the times we have given her a tablet. The other half of the times though, it was as if ahe hadn't even taken it? I am too afraid to try giving her 2, and we see her Dr.regarding her ADD nxt wk, and I intend to let him know about the melatonin, he had suggested it to me before. If I learn anything new, I'll pass it along to you. Try it! it litterally "can't hurt" him, and just imagine if it helps!.

My son is 7 and also has ADHD. I had issues with him getting to sleep at night as well(sometimes it was 10pm or later and he was still wide awake!) and my doctor says that is common in children with ADHD. For the last year he has been taking clonidine and melatonin. I would try the melatonin alone first. He gets 3mg and its allowed me to cut his dose of clonidine in half. I haven't had any adverse affects giving this to him at all. Its never an easy decision to give your child medication. If you haven't consulted your child's doctor about this I would reccomend you start there. Good luck!

On doctor's advise, we just started giving my daughter about 100 micrograms. She is 9 years old and about 55 pounds. The pills are 3 mg=3000 micrograms and we split them with a razor first in quarters, then eighths, then each eighth in half thickness-wise (16th),then each little piece in half (1/32 of 3000 micrograms = about 100 micrograms). This seems sufficient when given at bath time to get her to fall asleep about 45mins-1 hour later. The full 3 mg size left her sleepy in the morning (although this is what the doctor recommended). It also seemed to intensify her dreams to the point of night mares. We read up about her inability to fall asleep and she may need more light during the day, and more darkness in her room at night(she is fearful and has 2 nightlights). We now make her read with a little reading light at night in bed instead of with the room lights full on. I am unsure how long to continue, website info talks about how melatonin is produced by the brain and adding more should be short term to re-train sleep habits. My daugher has always been a light sleeper but school anxiety (recent assessment for suspected dyslexia)seems to add to her inability to fall asleep. Left on her own, she will not fall asleep until midnight most nights! On weekends we try to not give it to her, and again she is awake until midnight. If she does not improve in a few months we may request a sleep study via our pediatrician. I would start with less than the 3mg pill, but you may have to experiment what amount is enough to fall asleep yet not too much to still be sleepy in the AM.

I would talk to the pediatrician. Melatonin may not be the right solution, but there has to be something out there that is. Also, I applaud your wish to help your child perform better during the day through getting more sleep. It's hrd enough to live w/ ADHD as a kid, but to be sleep deprived too - that would be really tough on a kid. I have had problems falling asleep my entire life, and my parents just yelled at me for not cooperating instead of trying to solve the problem.