Melatonin?

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My little guy (10) takes Melatonin every night. He only takes 0.5 mg because that's all he needs. I give it to him 45 mins before his bedtime and then he's out like a light. His problem was always getting to sleep, but not staying asleep which is why Melatonin is beneficial. It's meant to help you get to that point, but it doesn't actually keep you asleep. Does that make sense? right now, my son is sleeping 10.5 hours (7:30pm-6am) which is perfect because he's a kid who has always needed a lot of sleep. If his body was left to its own devices, he wouldn't be able to fall asleep until at least 11pm and then he would wake up to start his day at 4am. In the meantime, he would have a heck of a lot of meltdowns because the not being able to fall asleep part stresses him out in a huge way.

Ah, I saw this and realised I hadn't updated.

My husband and I are separated, and my son spends 3 nights a week at his father's house. His father refuses to accept that our son may be autistic, despite the school, the paediatrician, the Speech and Language Therapist and the Educational Psychologist saying informally (still awaiting formal assessment after more than a year!) that he is, and working out various accommodations and plans on that basis. My husband's sister, who works with autistic children, is also convinced that our son is autistic.

My son has been banging his head on whatever surface is at hand since he was a baby, and this is what first alerted the school. I then went to the Health Visitor, and a whole process of appointments, assessments and observations by various professionals followed. My soon to be ex husband maintains that it it me who is trying to "label" him and that I'm making it all up for some inexplicable reason.

According to my stbx husband, our son doesn't bang his head. He has a bald spot on his head where he bangs it!! !

Anyway, I mentioned melatonin to my husband and he instantly went on the attack. Said that it was "unconscionable to pump a child full of hormones" and all sorts of other ill considered and ill informed comments.

I said that if we could agree a sleep plan we could give it a go for two weeks to see if that worked. It isn't working, and next week I will go to the doc and get a prescription.

As regards the sleep issue, I don't think my husband realises how much sleep our son should be getting in relation to how little he is getting. I also think that my husband is unaware that our son being in his bedroom does not mean that he is asleep. My husband's house is much bigger than mine, and my husband's hearing isn't as good as he thinks it is - so I think that our son is often awake and quietly busy in his room while his father is downstairs watching TV with the sound turned up, completely unaware of what his son is doing.

End rant!

Oy. I feel for you and everything you're going through with your husband. I found that even though my HB and I are still together, it still took him much longer to wrap his brain around my son's issues than it did me. I would say he's always been about a year behind where I am in terms of acceptance/support/enthusiasm etc. Big tight hugs for you. It's not easy.

Thanks for the hugs, CelticGoddess.

I am so sorry Marcia. Things sound extremely hard right now. Take care

I've suffered from an extremely debilitating sleep disorder most of my life, and yes, I've tried melatonin. It worked for 2 or 3 days, and then ceased to have any effect after that. I can use it now every once in a while and it does work. But what I've found is that it works no better than valerian root or St. John's wort, which both have a far more extensive history of use, and so much more information is available about them. I would recommend you try these herbal remedies first.

But beyond that, the most important question you need to ask yourself before medicating a 7 year old is whether or not he is effectively able to communicate its effectiveness and side effects to you. I can't speak to that. But I can speak to the fact that herbal remedies have worked just as well as melatonin for me, personally.

I've been giving my 12-y-o son 3mg of melatonin at bedtime for 3 years. Periodically - 2 or 3 times a year -- it seems he's built up a tolerance and we take a week break. When we get back on schedu le, it works as well as ever.

i am AS. i have used melatonin - for the firt time recently. i couldn;t beleive it. this is how people sleep!
My sister uses it with my ASD nephew and it is really helping him.