Melatonin and toddlers

[Anonymous]

I don't know the scientific name for this but I heard it could cause feminization in boys. I haven't fact checked this, but as someone else said, it IS a hormone after all. I'm not sure I would want to be messing with my pre pubescent toddler's hormones on a regular basis.

3 is a difficult time for sleep because they're dropping naps and transitioning out of the crib, plus testing boundaries. We really struggled around this time (4:50 a.m. up for the day for six months straight plus delayed bedtimes) but it passed.

Try different things: setting them up with books to look at (lift the flaps and other things since they can't read) with a light on, then saying you'll come back to check on them in X minutes but they can't get out of bed. Reward with an M&M at breakfast (or special breakfast) if they don't get out of bed. Put an audio book on at bedtime for them to fall asleep to. If you have a TV in your room, tell them they can come in your room for morning snuggles and a show if they make it to 6 a.m. (this is helpful with an OK To Wake clock). Things like that.

[Anonymous]

We used it for our children during the pandemic when we were cooped up inside a lot and they weren't blowing off as much energy as usual. They were around 7 and 8 at the time I believe. Honestly we used it a few times a week for a couple of years and then had no trouble stopping, and both are fine sleepers now that life is back to normal.

[Anonymous]

Our ped recommended it for my horrible sleeper. He'd fight bedtime and then eventually go to sleep but when he awoke at 2am he'd have gotten just enough rest to fight going back to sleep and be up from 2-5am. So for the past year or so I've given it to him for like a week (.5mg) then wean down over a few nights and then he's fine for a bit. Eventually he'll hit a bad spell again and start over again.

This is one of those things were its picking between two not awesome options. There is a lot of research about how important sleep is for brain growth, development, behavior, emotional regulation etc. Chronically not getting enough sleep can cause real harm both long term and short term (too tired to learn, acting out at school, etc). So to the people saying "i'd never do it!" - that's cool but you've got to weigh both sides of the equation when you have a truly bad sleeper. You're not picking between a potential unknown vs something entirely neutral

[Anonymous]

NP - sorry for the thread hijack.

Our 3.5 year old, usually a great sleeper, has a horrific cough right now. He's fine in the day but he's up coughing at night, sometimes for hours. HOURS. About every other night, he's woken up coughing and coughed so much and badly for so long that he threw up. It's been over two weeks of this. I brought him to urgent care, they said he's fine, just a virus, or more likely one virus right into another (he just started PK3 and wasn't in daycare, so this is his first time in the Petri dish), gave me the usual "oh no cough syrup, just honey and a humidifier" and I was like "no. We cannot live like this, he's an absolute mess, how can he possibly get better with no sleep, we need something!" They gave me an anti-nausea so at least he won't throw up, and recommended 1 or 2 mg of melatonin.

We tried it last night (cut a 3mg melatonin in half) and it was a million times better.

My question is - I don't want to mess up his natural melatonin production or otherwise mess with his sleep long term. I'm hoping now that he's sleeping he'll be better soon. How many nights in a row can I give him melatonin before I risk damaging his natural sleep rhythms?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP - sorry for the thread hijack.

Our 3.5 year old, usually a great sleeper, has a horrific cough right now. He's fine in the day but he's up coughing at night, sometimes for hours. HOURS. About every other night, he's woken up coughing and coughed so much and badly for so long that he threw up. It's been over two weeks of this. I brought him to urgent care, they said he's fine, just a virus, or more likely one virus right into another (he just started PK3 and wasn't in daycare, so this is his first time in the Petri dish), gave me the usual "oh no cough syrup, just honey and a humidifier" and I was like "no. We cannot live like this, he's an absolute mess, how can he possibly get better with no sleep, we need something!" They gave me an anti-nausea so at least he won't throw up, and recommended 1 or 2 mg of melatonin.

We tried it last night (cut a 3mg melatonin in half) and it was a million times better.

My question is - I don't want to mess up his natural melatonin production or otherwise mess with his sleep long term. I'm hoping now that he's sleeping he'll be better soon. How many nights in a row can I give him melatonin before I risk damaging his natural sleep rhythms?

I’ve never had a hard time weaning them off - like 2/3 of what you gave, then 1/2, then 1/4, then a vitamin gummy of a different type just for routine. Like 3 to 4 nights max to get them used to falling asleep naturally again

[Anonymous]

Chiming in from Europe, so I’m not sure if this will be helpful for the US. Here we have “Slenyto” which is a prescription-only 1mg dose of melatonin for kids. We used it very briefly to get through a tough period (we were sleep deprived) but the real thing that did the trick was resolving, via a sleep specialist, the underlying anxiety causing the wake-ups.

[Anonymous]

I find that most parents are putting their kids down way too late these days. That means that their kids are missing their "sleep window" and getting second wind. I've seen this in so many situations. 7pm rolls around and a little kid is yawning and yawning, but they stay up and then they are wired and they are running around and having trouble sleeping when parents actually want them to settle. It's so so hard, especially when they have older siblings with activities that go late, parents who work later, but I think that it's important to prioritize personal sleep windows when you can. It's only for a short time and then they can stay up later.

[Anonymous]

The problem that kids don’t spend enough time outside. Preschool age children should get fresh air for 2 or 3 hours per day if you want them to sleep. Child need fresh air and run around and melatonin. Think about their organs before you give medication for everything.