Melatonin and Kids

I did and it gave my son nightmares...doctor had recommended it to help try and get him to sleep earlier...he's a night owl like his dad...

it didn't help him sleep. So nope, not happy with the results.

My older son takes melatonin on occasion, after getting the okay from the neurologist he was seeing at the time. His brain wasn't producing it in normal amounts.

Even though melatonin is over-the-counter here in the US, you should speak to your child's doctor about it first. If your child doesn't have a biological need for supplementation, you can make sleep issues worse by using it.

You didn't mention what kind of issue he is having, but I thought I should mention that it will not help if you're having bedtime struggles due to a behavior issue. It is not a sleeping pill and won't make a resistant child go to bed.

We've given it to our almost 4 yo since he was 2.5 ... He gets 2 ml of Natrol liquid melatonin each night, mixed with a little bit of juice. It helps him drift off to sleep. It does not help him stay asleep ... Just drift off. We are pleased with the results. It was recommended and prescribed by a pediatric sleep specialist following the completion of a full sleep study and surgery to try to resolve his sleep issues due to apnea.

My 15 year old has been using it every night (along with some other medications for various reasons) for a little over a year. I do think it helps somewhat. She gets insomnia (anxiety and other mental health issues)very easily without any kind of sleep aid. She uses the gummy chews. I've given them to my 12 year old once or twice last summer when her schedule got very off-sync. I've not noticed any side effects with melatonin for either of my girls.

When we first adopted our two daughters the little one had a terrible time sleeping. She would only sleep for 2 or 3 hours and then wake up restless and wake the whole house up like it was morning. Pediatrician recommended melatonin just for a few weeks to help her get use to sleeping in the new atmosphere.

It worked very well for us.

I was advised to use it very sparingly with children especially. There is some debate that it can cause their bodies to produce less naturally and therefore result in lower levels. When that happens it takes a long time for their body to recognize it needs to ramp up because of the supplement. I use it very occasionally when their sleep rhythm gets off. It does cause nightmares with my son. I use 1mg and give it about an hour before bedtime.

Blessings!
L.

If you Google melatonin and children some interesting articles are there for your research.

Hi. A neighbor's daughter stayed the night a couple times and we were instructed to give her Melatonin before bed. She was 4 yrs. old and it was suggested by her pediatrician, as her body wasn't producing what it needed for her to sleep as needed. I know it's usually meant for adults and it should only be given to children under the direction of a physician. I've used it off and on over the last 15 yrs., and it can help create very "odd" or vivid dreams. My 15 yr. old daughter used it twice and both times didn't like the way she woke up feeling after it.

I gave my son melatonin for a short while; and then learned some very concerning information about how the melatonin we get from the store is not usually mammalian melatonin (harvested from cows pineal glands--discontinued due to concerns regarding mad cow disease) but a plant-based one which can retard natural hormone development.

Here's a worthwhile article on the subject written by a pediatrician:
http://www.kidsoc.org/news/press/entry/the-dangers-of-mel...

In our home we do use some herbal remedies, keeping in mind that for herbs to work there do have to be some 'effects'. We decided though, that continuing the use of a medication that seems relatively new in its use wasn't a great idea. Remember that some of the vaccines that people worry their kids will be 'guinea pigs' for have undergone far more testing than herbal supplements do-- furthermore, herbal supplements are not regulated in the same way. Just things to think about.

I rarely use it for our son but when I do it works fine.
We have no issues using melatonin.
For me it's valarian that will give me some weird nightmares if I use it 2 or 3 nights in a row - have never given that to our son.
You can also try some chamomile tea an hour before bedtime.
Be sure to run the kids around a lot in the afternoon and they should have some bright light in the mornings (and no tv/computer/screen time 2 hours before bed).

Have in the past. The health food store clerk.

My daughter gets very vivid dreams from melatonin. She interprets those as nightmares. Due to sleep onset issues her doctor then prescribed clonidine which is used "off script" as a sleep aid. She has been on 0.1 mg for over a year and it helps greatly. Additional plus is that this is an old drug and with our insurance 90 pills are less than a dollar. I assume you have tried the bath + story routine as well as snack+snuggle+snooze? Our daughter is a picky eater and does not recognize hunger so we have to make sure she eats a bedtime snack. With warm milk it helped a little since part of what was keeping her up was hunger. Good luck.

We don't use it regularly. We did ask the doc about it because one of my girls was having trouble sleeping. Her friend takes it every day so she can sleep. unfortunately, when she does not take it, she has trouble gettng to sleep. When we asked about it, my daughter had recently tried a new flavored water with melatonin and other things in it. The doc looked it up and since it was a really low dose, she said it was fine. She also told my daughter to cut out her iced tea and chocolate in the late afternoon and evening.