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Lynden

Melatonin again

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Right, Logan has been a bit of a nightmare to settle the past week, so the past five nights I've given him the melatonin, 3mg. How long should it take before we begin to see a difference? And if he wakes in the middle of the night hyper can I give him more?

 

If anything at the moment his sleeping seems to have deteriorated as he's difficult to settle AND is waking up either inconsolable or hyper. Last night he was up from 1.30 till 2.30, and then from 3.30 till just before 6am.

 

Lynne

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Melatonin worked from the start for us. The first night he took it, he was asleep within 15 minutes. When our son went through weeks of waking in the night we asked if we could give him another capsule and we were told no. It's best to speak to the paediatrician as at the start we were told we could up the dose if the initial dose was not working. I have been told however, that Melatonin does not work for everyone.

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Melatonin should work the forst time you take it. There are a few possibilities as to why it isn't helping:

 

1. You may need to increase the dose, maybe try 6mg for one night and see if it does the trick

 

2. A highly stimulated child will not respond to melatoinin, having good bedtime rountine is important, even with melatonin.

 

3. You might be giving it too early or too late, 1/2 hr to an hour before bedtime is ideal

 

4. Melatonin might not work for you, it seems to have no effect on some children, and yours may be one of them!

 

Simon

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Agree with everything mossgrove says. As well as upping the dose you could also try a combination of normal and slow release melatonin (suggest you talk to the doctor first). The normal dose helps to get them asleep initially, the slow release helps keep them there. A takes them in combination and is on a total dose of 10mg but this is under medical supervision. Even with this dosage, it doesn't always work if he's particularly anxious. In fact, not working at all at the moment so he's taking a break from them.

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Thanks guys. We do have a strict bedtime routine as its the one routine Logan is set on. I've been giving the melatonin in his bedtime drink which he has around about 45 minutes before he goes to bed. The paed did say we could give him up to 6mg so I might try that for a few nights and see how we go, then I might have to accept that it just wont work for him.

 

Lynne

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I now give my son is 2 hours before he goes to bed because he was not falling to sleep straight away. I have found I do need to change the dose and he does not have the dose on Friday or Saturday. He also has a break during holidays. When he had it all the time it did not work

 

Jen

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It worked for William almost from the start. He takes 5mg. After trial and error I discovered that for him to settle in bed at a reasonable time (8-8.30) I have to give him it at 5.30-6pm. It works a treat.

 

I read somewhere that melatonin will only work in cases where the cause of sleeplessness is actually a lack of melatnonin; some people just don't produce enough so supplementation has the desired effect but if some thing else is causing the sleeplessness then melatonin won't work.

 

Lauren

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Does anyone have any more information about the slow-release melatonin? I asked our paediatrician about it recently and she said she hadn't heard of it. My sons (both ASD) are very bad sleepers and often wake around 2am for several hours!!!!!! They also take a while to settle but usually its one scenario or the other. They also share a bedroom so if one wakes they're both up! My feeling is that they just don't seem to need much sleep so would melatonin help or not?!

 

Melinda

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Melinda,

 

You can buy slow release melatonin on the internet but you can also get it on prescription from your Consultant. A's Consultant prescribes his. She actually prescribes melatonin 6 hour timed release tablets 3mg. He started being prscribed one a night together with an ordinary release tablet but is now prescribed two a night together with an ordinary tablet.

 

When they work they do help to extend the sleep period and keep the child asleep.

 

You can buy them here

 

Perhaps you could print the page and show it to the Consultant to see if they would prescribe them?

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They also share a bedroom so if one wakes they're both up!

 

Melinda

 

Our son used to wake our daughter in the night along with other difficulties to them sharing a room. We applied for a disabled facilities grant to have a room each and they both get a much better sleep now. Have you considered applying?

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my friend was also having the same problem with her two boys. They would not go to sleep or they kept waking up in the night.

She has taken everything out of the room and justed left a bed in and plain curtain, she has repainted the walls is a soft relaxing colour. With the help of the melatonin both boys now go to bed at 8pm with a book and they are asleep within 30 minutes. She can not believe the difference.

 

Jen

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I ordered some melatonin for myself off the internet. I got it this morning with a complimentary peptide face cream which is supposed to work like botox :D According to some melatonin itself is supposed to have an anti ageing affect. I'll keep you posted :P

 

Lauren

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Denise - we are in the process of applying for the DFG! Our house cannot be extended or altered but apparently the grant can now be used to purchase a more suitable property, just waiting to hear if we've been accepted! Out of interest, how long did your grant take to sort out?

 

We've also taken everything out of the room and painted magnolia - had to as one of my son's managed to push over his wardrobe!!!!!!!!!!! Luckilly it missed his brother!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Melinda

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Hi Lynne

Char's first lot of melatonin worked the first night but it was a one off.We slowly went up as recomemded by his consultant.He now is on the max dose of 10mg half a hour before bedtime.This does get him to sleep but doesn't keep him asleep but the melatonin isn't suppose to keep them asleep just settle them down.We got anti hystmeens to give in the night but these had the opposite effect and unfortunatly we are now just left to get on with it. On a good night we are up three times on a bad night seven times.

 

Lisa x

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