Melatonin Can Help ADHD Children Sleep Better: Information from My Experiences
Melatonin supplements can be found at most stores in the vitamin, or herbal section. They will cost you around seven dollars for a bottle of 120. This is a very inexpensive way to help your ADHD child get some much needed rest. When a child with ADHD doesn't get enough sleep it can wreck the entire day. They can be extra wound up and irritable. Since a child with ADHD is always on the go they often feel no need for sleep. The melatonin helps with this. It is given about twenty to thirty minutes before bedtime. The melatonin helps to calm the child enough for them to fall asleep.
The amount of melatonin given will vary some by each child. You will usually find melatonin in three to five milligrams in the store. Give the lowest dose possible when first starting out. Too much can cause your child to have nightmares. Usually a dosage between three and five milligrams will work just fine. Another problem with giving too much Melatonin is it can have a reverse effect on the ADHD child. Instead of helping them sleep, it keeps them awake.
My daughter has been taking melatonin for three months now. She has severe ADHD. She takes it on school nights. On the weekends I do not give it to her. This allows her body to have a break. We give her the melatonin about thirty minutes before bedtime. Usually within fifteen minutes she would be out for the night. Recently the melatonin was not helping her sleep all night so we changed her dosage from three milligrams to five milligrams. This did not show any improvement. We tried one night of six milligrams and the results were terrible. She was up the whole night. She would not go to sleep. It was like someone had given her several pots of coffee. Needless to say we now know six milligrams is just too much for her.
A person is not supposed to build up a resistance to the melatonin, but each person's body is different. We didn't give the melatonin to her for a few nights and now she is doing great on it. My daughter's ADHD really causes problems for her when it comes to getting enough rest. Before we started the melatonin it was nothing for her to awake at three in the morning and be ready to go for the day. Now that we have been using the melatonin she is able to get a good night sleep. This is great for her and for us. Going on four hours of sleep for several nights makes for a cranky mom.
There are no side effects from the melatonin. Prescription sleep medications often make the person become dependent on them. There isn't that problem with the melatonin. If your child has ADHD and is having trouble sleeping give melatonin a try.
Published by Heather Shockney
Heather is the mom to a daughter with Autism, ADHD, ODD, Mood-D/O-NOS,obsessive compulsive tendencies, and sensory issues. We are a cyber-schooling family.She writes for a variety of online venues. If you ha... View profile
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20 Comments
Post a CommentGreat reference, well researched. Awesome!
I have actually tried Melatonin with my son (who has ADHD). I did not like giving him the clonidine that the doctor prescribed to help him sleep, so I wanted to try a more natural option. He was SO WOUND UP on Melatonin. The night I gave it to him he did not go to sleep at all. I suppose it's just like any other medication, what works for some may not work for others. I am glad to see that it worked for you. Good luck on your journey.
The dosage will depend on the person. You should always start with the lowest dose that works.6mgs is too much most likely. From all of my research anything over 5mgs can cause nightmares and have the opposite effect.Talk with your child's doctor to be sure about the dosage.
OK, if 3mg of melatonin is too much for me (I weigh 135 and get nightmares from 3mg) then it's definitely too much for a child. For my body weight, I only need about 1.5mg or less (half of a 3mg chew-able tablet) Take my advice, give your child about .25mg - .75mg depending on their weight. Following this rule has helped my 5yr old achieve solid sleep all night long.
My 5 year old has struggled with sleeping pretty much since she was born. Recently, for about 6 months, it got so bad that she would fall asleep by 8pm and between 10pm-2am she would wake up screaming her head off. It was VERY frustrating for my husband and I.
She seems to have quite a hyper attitude during the daylight hours, not sure if it's ADD, as we've never had her diagnosed. We tried a number of things, then we gave melatonin a try. We started with 1/2 of a 3mg chewable pill, it seemed to help for a few days, then she started night crying again.
I experimented on myself w/ the melatonin and first took the full 3mg pill- it gave me nightmares. I take 1/2 a pill now and sleep like a baby. After this little finding, I started giving my daughter 1/4 of a 3mg pill and she sleeps solid all night long, about 12 hours!
She sleeps in her room alone, so we also bought her a pet guinea pig to keep her company in her room shortly after reducing her dose to a 1/4 pill.
my son is now 10yrs.old .I was told he had adhd when he was just 2 1/2 ,sleep has never come easy to him. I've just recently started to give him 6mg of melatonin with no success in fact its done the opposit hes been up later . Can melatonin have an opposit effect
Melatonin, while mostly safe, can have side effects (in some people) of moodiness and unexplained anger if taken on a consistent basis. Otherwise, its a great alternative. Your body can build up a resistance to it.
We heard from friends that give their son malatonin, he is autistic, how it helps him sleep through the night. My 7 year old son was waking up and not getting enough rest for school. We started him on it this year and what a difference. WOW, he is doing so well in school this year it's amazing. I think his problem was not getting enough rest through the night, was making him miserable. His effect from this is great. We cut a 3m pill in half and just give him half a night. Within 15 minutes or so he is dozing off and fully asleep within the half hour. I would swear by this stuff for people with kids who are having problems sleeping.
My 4-year-old son has been diagnosed with severe ADHD. He is usually a very heavy sleeper, but he is on meds now. The meds cause him to sleep at a normal rate, but it also makes it a little difficult for him to fall asleep. I gave him 3mg of Melatonin tonight and he fell asleep just great. I'm just waiting to see if he still wakes up to go to the bathroom. That was one of the side effects of his meds that I really appreciated. His ADHD is so severe that he couldn't concentrate long enough to make it to the bathroom.
is melatonin bad for children?