For Melatonin users | Autism PDD

60 pounds

8 years old

dr just upped him to 5 from 3, we alternate.

Autumn, mayI ask the age/size of your child? Just curious because you give him 3-5 mg and I am trying to get my son's dosage right.

i tried melatonin and i have my son falling asleep in 1 hour. excellent! Melatonin brands do differ. For our son we use either 3 mg or 5 mg depending on the day. The pills are TINY, and we put it in flavored applesause and he does not even know he is swallowing it! It is the ONLY WAY our son can go to sleep.[QUOTE=OneMoreTimeBook]Is this a coincidence or have any of you noticed that different forms or brands work differently?

Just curious... and thanks in advance to you all. [/QUOTE]

I give my 3 yr old son Melatonin in a liquid form. Since he is so little, I only give him .25-.5 ML which is only a few drops. I squirt the dropper right under his tongue and within a half an hour to about an hour he's out cold!

He usually sleeps through the night with that amount, but we do still have our nights he's up at 2 AM @@ When that happens, I give him a tiny bit more and again he's asleep in about a half an hour or so.

This is the one I buy:Melatonin Liquid Sublingual by Source Naturals - VitaminShoppe.com

It's sweet orange flavored. He loves it! I have to hide it because he asks for his "orange juice" like it's a treat.

A friend of mine tried to use this brand and said it doesn't work as good as the Source Naturals brand:

Liquid Melatonin (Sleep Aid) by Natrol - VitaminShoppe.com

I bought some Natrol Melatonin in a 3mg tablet from Wal Mart to try out. I noticed on the label that it states "not for use in children under age 12." Should I be concerned about this since our daughter is 6 years old? Also, has anybody tried grinding up the tablets to add to a liquid drink for use like O.J? Our girl is very taste sensitive and will not take pills, capsules or tablets of any kind.

Glad to hear that! Just wanted to make sure. I think it was just a coinsidence here with our little one. Since it was new in her system I wanted to make sure that it was not causing anything like that. She has had some constipation problems in the past and we just had some more problems along that line so we wanted to make sure it was not the melatonin. THANKS!

We were told amino acids 1 hr. before bed time. The only thing I do in the day is Multi vitamins/bcomplex/greens/starches or I would be wide awake. The rest we do at dinner time after the meal.

Has anyone noticed if Melatonin can effect bowel movements? Can it cause constipation or has anyone seen this? Just curious.
My son has not had any changes in his bowel habits, and he is very sensitive to constipation.no bad side effects here.my son has been using melatonin but i use it for those days he is restless, i try not to make it an habit!
I hear this works only if needed. Didn't work for us. When I can't sleep I do gnc's sleep formula. Sleep is no longer a issue with Daniel. He has a warm bath every night. Herbal remedy done by a neuro dr. Relaxing is the main problem with not being able to sleep well. I have also tried Rescue sleep spray also!

Classical cd's at night can also help. They help relax the brain for night!
Has anyone noticed that after using Melatonin for a period of time that it can stop working well. I was curious if a child can get immune to the effects possibly?

We have been using melatonin in the 3 mg tablets over the last several weeks and it has been working well until the last few nights. Our girl has really seemed to be wound up the last few nights and had trouble getting to sleep. We have kept the same schedule and I am not aware of any other real changes that could cause this. Just wondering if maybe the melatonin might not be working now. Just really not sure. Any ideas????????????
We have been using the Natrol tablet. We grind it up and place it in O.J. Our girl will not take any pills either. It seems to work well for us.
Now he sleeps good and he doesn't mind taking the meds anymore.
I wonder if it is something else. Do you know if she has yeast overgrowth or may have tried some new food that day? At 3mg, it should not make the body make less of it. Something else you might want to try is to dim or eliminate the lights in her room (or dim lights before bedtime) because the light makes your body think it is still daytime outside and your body won't make melatonin.

[QUOTE=dkmontgomery]

Has anyone noticed that after using Melatonin for a period of time that it can stop working well. I was curious if a child can get immune to the effects possibly?

We have been using melatonin in the 3 mg tablets over the last several weeks and it has been working well until the last few nights. Our girl has really seemed to be wound up the last few nights and had trouble getting to sleep. We have kept the same schedule and I am not aware of any other real changes that could cause this. Just wondering if maybe the melatonin might not be working now. Just really not sure. Any ideas????????????[/QUOTE] I sometimes use melatonin myself, and I have definitely found that potency
varies from one brand to the next. It's pretty common with supplements in
general.
Thanks to this forum and all the great info I have received, I started my son on 1 mg of Melatonin at bedtime with unbelievable success.
My husband just returned from a trip and purchased some cherry flavored chewable 1 mg Melatonin tabs at GNC.   My son loves them and calls them his "bedtime candy surprise".   But, they don't work near as well.   In fact, for them to work at all, I have to give him 2.

Is this a coincidence or have any of you noticed that different forms or brands work differently?

Just curious... and thanks in advance to you all.

Are those the sublingual ones? If they are, try having your son not chew them but just let it dissolve under his tongue. It is absorbed differently that way than it is through the stomach. If they aren't the sublingual then it probably is a case of different brands working differently. I know that different brands of probiotics work better for me than others (and some hardly work at all).Yes, they are the sublingual ones, but he chomps them immediately.    Different brands work differently. I give my son 3 mg and he is out within 30 minutes. The worse brand that I got said 300 mcg and I found out he had to take more because mcg is not a mg. The physician told me that it was the same, but I looked it up and it was NOT. I get my melatonin from any drugstore. I try to catch the buy one get one frees that they have at drugstores, but if I cannot, I go to walmart and get theirs. I love melatonin it does wonders. I LOVE MELATONIN! We get a prescription chewable from our doctor. It works great!
Since melatonin is a nutritional supplement, it is not regulated by the FDA and that means there are often differences, brand to brand. Also, some melatonin brands add theanine, which is an extract from green tea which is believed to have calming properties. Perhaps the tab you used to give your son had that. I give my 16yo MelatoninPlus from Schiff. I get it at Sam's Club. This is what the label says:

"Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland in the human brain believed to maintain regular sleeping patterns. Schiff has added L-Theanine, a natural compound found in green tea, for its calming and stress relief properties."

I'm sure that giving your son two under the tongue thingies is perfectly fine. My son is 6'2" and near 300 lbs. He takes two tabs of the above, which totals 6mgs. of Melatonin. I started him on this to combat the insomnia caused by one of the prescription medications he must take for his tics. Every once in a while, I try to see if normal sleep habits will kick in without the Melatonin. I tried again last night. By 2 a.m., when I could still hear him talking in his bed, I got up and gave him his dose. He simply cannot fall asleep without his Melatonin. Thank goodness it works for him!
The cost is low (compare that to other supplements!) and it is also good to reduce inflamation.

Maybe everyone shoudl take it
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