Melatonin

[Anonymous]

If you’ve done your research on long term use of melatonin, can you point me to articles/info from reliable sources?

My adhd kid has such a hard time falling asleep and then is exhausted in the mornings. Whether she’s on stimulants or off them, it’s nearly impossible for her to fall asleep without melatonin. Our new neuropsych doc told us to stop the melatonin and he prescribe guafacine at night. It hasn’t helped at all. She’s 7 and still up at 12:30 am.

With melatonin, she falls asleep around 9. Without it, she falls asleep between 12am and 2 am. She holds it together at school but I know she must be exhausted (and getting her up in the morning is so sad—she really, really wants to sleep). Ugh. Help!!

[Anonymous]

Here is a review article. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10053496/#:~:text=Long%2Dterm%20melatonin%20therapy%20appears,%25%20in%20the%20general%20population). It says melatonin is fine long term but needs more study.

I have a DD with ADHd who can’t fall asleep until very late so she gets 0.5mg melatonin every night and has for 3 years. When she doesn’t take it, it’s a problem. She has taken 1 mg for a while but then we reduced it.

My pediatrician recommended it, and she thinks the dose is so small it’s just tipping DD into sleep - we also do all the other sleep best practices.

I have decided it’s the least of all evils - not sleeping makes DD act out and super grumpy. I get grumpy because o don’t want to be up that late.

A word of caution - pick a melatonin brand that has the UL symbol on it (underwriters lab) because it means the brand has been tested for quality - essentially that the amount of melatonin in the pill as been proven to be the amount on the bottle.

[Anonymous]

I also wonder about this - guanfacine did nothing for our DC's sleep and we are on melatonin every day. One thing I did read is that one needs much less of a dose than is usually marketed 1-3 mg.

[Anonymous]

If your kid is on stimulants go straight to Clonidine. Melantonin alone is just not strong enough. I do both together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is a review article. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10053496/#:~:text=Long%2Dterm%20melatonin%20therapy%20appears,%25%20in%20the%20general%20population). It says melatonin is fine long term but needs more study.

I have a DD with ADHd who can’t fall asleep until very late so she gets 0.5mg melatonin every night and has for 3 years. When she doesn’t take it, it’s a problem. She has taken 1 mg for a while but then we reduced it.

My pediatrician recommended it, and she thinks the dose is so small it’s just tipping DD into sleep - we also do all the other sleep best practices.

I have decided it’s the least of all evils - not sleeping makes DD act out and super grumpy. I get grumpy because o don’t want to be up that late.

A word of caution - pick a melatonin brand that has the UL symbol on it (underwriters lab) because it means the brand has been tested for quality - essentially that the amount of melatonin in the pill as been proven to be the amount on the bottle.

Just another mom of an ADHD kid here to second this. We tried guanfacine too, but it had too many side effects for my DS and didn’t really help with sleep anyway. Our ped basically said a low dose is safer than the effects of continual poor sleep (not to mention stress to the family of having a kid up past midnight all the time).

My DS is also 7 and finally gaining some insight into having ADHD so we’re able to have conversations with him about how his brain works. He recently wanted to try stopping the gummies and we gritted through 2 days of experimentation before he came to the conclusion on his own he wants to take one at night because it helps settle his brain. We do 1 mg.

Every other parent I know with a neurodiverse child basically has the same story.

[Anonymous]

Both my DC (whose 14) and I are on melatonin. DD is on 3mg and I'm on 7mg. We've been using it for a while. I say use whatever gets your child to sleep and get rest. That may sound naive, but we need sleep!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for asking this OP. Our ped just recommended it for our ASD 1 kid. She actually generally sleeps ok but probably sleeps a little less than she needs to because she has trouble getting to sleep. Ped based recommendation on the fact that DD suffers from anxiety (beyond typical ASD anxiety) and lack of sleep can contribute to that. It feels odd to give her this for what I consider to be minor sleep issues, but also don't want to ignore pediatrician's advice.

[Anonymous]

Our psychiatrist told us that some studies show that lower doses of melatonin are actually more effective than higher doses. He couldn't explain it, but said not to assume higher doses will do more. He told us that it's safe for long term use and has no long term side effects, so I use it without any concern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you’ve done your research on long term use of melatonin, can you point me to articles/info from reliable sources?

My adhd kid has such a hard time falling asleep and then is exhausted in the mornings. Whether she’s on stimulants or off them, it’s nearly impossible for her to fall asleep without melatonin. Our new neuropsych doc told us to stop the melatonin and he prescribe guafacine at night. It hasn’t helped at all. She’s 7 and still up at 12:30 am.

With melatonin, she falls asleep around 9. Without it, she falls asleep between 12am and 2 am. She holds it together at school but I know she must be exhausted (and getting her up in the morning is so sad—she really, really wants to sleep). Ugh. Help!!

Time for a new doctor. They took something that was working and a natural hor.one ans replaced it with a drug you must rely on them for, which is synthetic and doesn't work at all.