melatonin?

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Registered: 03-31-2003
melatonin?
9
Tue, 05-23-2006 - 5:15pm

Does anyone else here have a child who uses melatonin? Our dev ped just recommended we use it for Sylvia. Just curious: any preferred brands? The dr. recommended a liquid formula since we could more easily tweak the dose that way, although to be honest, Sylvia does MUCH better with chewables (which I don't even know if that's an option for melatonin). If you use a liquid, how does it taste? Sylvia usually only drinks water (doesn't like juice) so anything strong tasting will be pretty apparent if we mix it with liquid, plus she usually doesn't drink everything in her cup anyway. But she's HORRIBLE about taking medicine from a syringe etc. Any BTDT advice?

Thanks!!!

Jennifer

Avatar for luanne115481
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: jenny406
Tue, 05-23-2006 - 5:42pm
My older dd (she's 17) takes melatonin and I take it occasionally as well. Is your dd going to be taking it to help her sleep? Since dd is older she takes a capsule. And we've been buying whatever brand we find. I've bought it at Long's and at GNC. Sorry that I don't know anything about the liquid brand. I didn't even know it came in a liquid or chewable.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: jenny406
Tue, 05-23-2006 - 5:59pm

Unfortunately, you have found the BTDT Queen of the Sleep division of the board. Welcome and have a seat--LOL.

I have tried liquids. We now use 3mg per child per night on a regular basis and have for over a year now. Liquids get pretty expensive at that dose. iherb.com (http://www.papanature.com/store/ProductDetails.aspx?c=Herbs&pid=NTL-00457) has a nice one that is a raspberry vanilla flavor. four droppers full is 1ml. so you can divide up the dose pretty small and it's fairly cheap. it's natrol which is pretty reputable also. lori's locally may have it, but it will be more expensive.

i use a capsule instead and shake it up real well in a tablespoon of juice or milk at bed and they down it without problem. but my kids are also use to powdered enzymes in their juice so they are pretty good about that.

i definately notice the difference with melatonin. i'm not a supplement junkie by any means. i do trial and error. a few times i try to go without it and matty takes forever to go to bed. melatonin is a precursor to seratonin, so theoretically it could help in that area when taken regularly and i would atest to that as well.

good luck, valerie

~Valerie
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
In reply to: jenny406
Tue, 05-23-2006 - 6:22pm

Hi,
Billy 7, has used melatonin for a few years now. Without it, no one sleeps until 12 or 1 am. His dose is also 3mg. I like Natrol (I think that's the brand) because it comes in 1mg tablets. For some reason when I give him 3 1mg it works great, but giving him a 3mg. doesn't seem to work at all. I also just recently heard something about melatonin being a possible antioxidant....I could be wrong there tho'. I'm not sure if I'm remembering correctly. I'm always hesitant to give Bill stuff long term, but without his tonin as he calls it, it takes him a very long time to get to sleep and he will wake a lot without it.

We use the tablets and he just chews them, without water. Yuck! It doesn't seem to bother him. I try and give him water, but he only uses it to take his celexa. HTH.

Jen

 

Jen

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-16-2006
In reply to: jenny406
Tue, 05-23-2006 - 6:29pm

We were having problems with DD staying asleep...and staying asleep...either she wouldn't go to sleep or she'd wake up at 2 or 3 and not be able to get herself back to sleep for several hours....and we came across melatonin...which actually i used to use back wen i flew internationally 2-3 times a week....
anyway, after doing tons of research (did you know they did research on melatonin on one year olds??? its perfectly safe) we bought some...we just buy the 3 mg pills and a pill crusher..DD gets them in her dinner drink or something just after dinner..by the time she is done with her bath routine, she goes to bed and even though she still occasionally wakes up in the middle of the night, she is able to get herself back to sleep without too much difficulty. Before she'd start crying because she couldn't settle herself down.....

it has made life a lot easier and DD is always a happier when she has had a good night sleep!!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-25-2003
In reply to: jenny406
Tue, 05-23-2006 - 8:53pm

Jennifer,

Trader Joes has a chewable. It's mildly minty and 500 mcg - ½ a mg. 1 or 2 of those usually works for me!

Neither of my kids usually have trouble falling asleep, but I have given ½ a chewable to Peter (who weighs less than 50lbs), if he is having a tough time falling asleep. I don't know if Traders have higher dosage chewables, but I would start low, and see if you need to increase the dosage.

My 2¢

-Paula

-Paula

visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
In reply to: jenny406
Wed, 05-24-2006 - 6:43am

Thanks ALL!!! I'll poke around and see what I can find -- and maybe buy a couple of different versions and see which one Sylvia prefers. At this point, it's almost too much to hope for that all of us will be getting a good night's sleep on a regular basis... but if it works, it would be absolutely amazing...

Thanks again!

Jennifer

Avatar for mom2willandevie
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-30-2003
In reply to: jenny406
Wed, 05-24-2006 - 3:55pm

Hi, I'm a lurker here (son just dx with PDD-NOS) but just HAD to respond to your post...

On the recommendation of the pediatrician, my DD (almost 4) is taking Melatonin. We found 1mg SUBLINGUAL (under the tongue) tablets at GNC that are cherry flavored. They taste great and she just uses it as a chewable. The difference has been amazing! And NO side effects!

good luck!
Cyndee
Mom to William, 6 (PDD-NOS) and Evie, 4

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: jenny406
Wed, 05-24-2006 - 5:05pm

Both boys have been taking it for a couple years. We were using trader joe's which I liked. I ordered a schiff brand a while back through my organic coop and I don't know if it is the brand or Mike's just gaining resistance to it but it takes him longer to get to sleep. It is possible that the dose is actually to high (3mg when I used to give him 1).

Dave doesn't really need it much anymore. I only give it too him when he is having a hard time getting to sleep. Mike on the other hand takes and hour+ with melatonin and 2-3 without at least (not sure will explain).

For the longest time it was a god send though. I would like to take a break from melatonin and see if we could get back to a better time or dose, but Mike is in a routine. I try to "forget" his melatonin but when he can't get to sleep after an hour he notices and insists on taking it (pacing and all). It could be a placebo at this point for him. He has it in his head that he has to have melatonin to sleep. Darn routines.

Renee

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
In reply to: jenny406
Wed, 05-24-2006 - 7:30pm

Cyndee.

Well, that sounds absolutely perfect! I'm going to try to go to GNC this weekend. Thanks so much for the info!!!

Jennifer