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Melatonin for night terrors/ sleep walking

lhgd1989lhgd1989 member
in Toddlers: 24 Months+
My 2.5 yr old son has had night terrors and some sleep walking every night for about three weeks. My pediatrician told us to try giving him a small dose of melatonin before bed to help him sleep. I read some mixed reviews about side effects. Anyone have their child on melatonin?
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Re: Melatonin for night terrors/ sleep walking

  • greyt00greyt00 member
    DS1 gets melatonin every night.  He has autism and some night-waking.  Even though melatonin is generally promoted as an aid for falling asleep, and not for staying asleep, we tried it out of desperation.  We have not noticed any adverse effects.  It makes him sleepy and easier to put to bed, so it's valuable for that.  Also, when kids go to bed and they are tired and fall asleep easily, it helps them associate the bed with sleeping, and this may be helpful as well, even if the melatonin isn't helping them stay asleep.  Your doctor should recommend a starting dose and max dose specific to your child.  FWIW my son started at 1 mg and we went up to 2 mg.  I think we started it when he was about 3 years and 4 months old.  He was about 34 pounds at the time. 

     
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  • lhgd1989lhgd1989 member
    Thanks for the response! DS is 35 lb and Is on 1 mg dose right now. It helped him the first night but last night he woke up again :( hoping I fine something that works soon
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  • greyt00greyt00 member
    edited November 2014
    I feel your pain, somewhat.  We don't have the night terrors and sleepwalking, but DS1 went through a phase where he was screaming at night and I'm really not sure what was going on.  Anyway, today he got up at 2 AM and 4 AM before we both got up for the day at 6:20 AM.  At 2 AM he had leaked his overnight diaper.  How I don't know, since all he had at dinner was 1 cup of milk.  *sigh* 

     
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  • SwanigamSwanigam member
    My LO doesn't have trouble waking at night, but we put her to bed between 8:30-8:45 every night and sometimes we hear her playing or singing at 9:30 or after! On those nights (3-4 times a week) I give her 1mg of melatonin and she's out within 20 minutes. I also haven't noticed any side affects.
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  • LSU628LSU628 member
    With my DD, the pedi recommended giving her a dose of Benadryl before bed to help with the night terrors. It was a pretty big dose for 3-4 days to try to reset her sleep cycles. As she got older and was having major issues winding down and going to sleep he OK'd melatonin. It would help her fall asleep but did nothing to keep her asleep. I've tried melatonin on myself. It made me feel heavy and drowsy so I think it would help fall asleep initially but it did nothing for my frequent night wakings.
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  • greyt00greyt00 member
    LSU628 said:
    With my DD, the pedi recommended giving her a dose of Benadryl before bed to help with the night terrors. It was a pretty big dose for 3-4 days to try to reset her sleep cycles. As she got older and was having major issues winding down and going to sleep he OK'd melatonin. It would help her fall asleep but did nothing to keep her asleep. I've tried melatonin on myself. It made me feel heavy and drowsy so I think it would help fall asleep initially but it did nothing for my frequent night wakings.
    This is how it made me feel.  I'm glad to see someone else describe it that way because when I told my husband (using the word "heavy"), he thought something was wrong, LOL. He takes melatonin sometimes but I guess he thought feeling heavy sounds weird.

     
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