Reply to Help me not murder my 3.5yo at bedtime tonight

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Op here - yes melatonin seems to fully solve the problem.  But it sounds like the side effects of long term use are unknown and concerning in some animal studies.  But side effects of him having chronic sleep deprivation is also real.  I will do melatonin when he’s sick and particularly struggling then try to wean him off and it all goes back to hell.

I’ve bedtimes between 645-730.  He often doesn’t give up to 9pm either way[/quote]

We were in a similar place with our 3.5 yo and we’ve been using melatonin for a few months now. In that time period we did identify a few health issues that probably stem from allergies (we’re waiting for the allergist appointment now), and sleep through the night seems to have improved. Breathing was definitely an issue, which we didn’t realize. So he was overtired because he wasn’t sleeping well at night.

We’re planning to try stopping the melatonin again starting next weekend now that the health issues seem to be under control. Our pediatrician recommended a sleep study as the next step if the old behaviors return.

We also have an older kid who sleeps fine, and though I think there was some separation anxiety with the 3yo, he did not settle with us in the room and often did not come out of the room - just stayed in and changed clothes a million times, tried to climb the furniture, pulled everything out of drawers and shelves, stripped sheets off the bed…. Anything to not sleep.

All that to say, it might be time to talk to your pediatrician if you haven’t don’t that already.  [/quote]

Also we tried adjusting bedtime later and he just kept himself up later.  He was also acting very sleepy during the day, and his behavior was atrocious by late afternoon. He often put his head on the table at dinner. These are things that helped us realize that the issue was not too early bedtime - it was not enough sleep. [/quote]

Op here - sounds very similar. Yes he’s definitely tired, he lays on the floor regularly pushing cars around. Maybe his body clock is naturally 9pm-8am but that’s not feasible (and I don’t think it is that, the more tired he is the more he actually sleeps) but we can’t let him sleep until 8am so he’s overtired.  I’ve talked to ped and they suggested allergist or sleep study next (have already done ent as well as OT), but for some reason I’m hesitating on those. It’s like the tiny amount of melatonin just gets his actively drowsy enough to not fight and get the 11 hours of sleep he needs and without that he will use every last drop of energy he has fighting letting his body relax [/quote]

I'm not a fan of melatonin for the rest of these kids childhoods, but why don't you use it for a month and then wean him off it? It may help with the routine and resetting his body [/quote]

This. You can also fake the melatonin after a while to get the placebo effect of the kid thinking they are getting something to help them sleep. We do this. My kids get a "sleepy gummy" every night. Its actual melatonin maybe once a week at this point. The rest of the time its a gummy vitamin. [/quote]

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