melatonin - 8 month old

[DeChRi]

I have an 8 month old that has had significant health issues from the start. We still are working through them, currently looking at eosinophilic disorders, as well as possible genetic issues and some developmental hiccups that were flagged at our first early intervention assessment this morning.  She has not slept more than a 30 minute stretch in months.  At first this was due to extreme discomfort.  Right now we are at as close to a baseline for her as we have ever been.  We continue to work down the path to finding a cause and best treatment route and will be seeing an additional specialist next month.

Some of her sleep problems are from some general discomfort with her GI system, and some is from conditioning or waking in discomfort for so many months.  Our Ped GI is trying to help and has prescribed Atarax and Hyocymine.  I am not feeling good about drugging her on meds.  We have tried them a few nights and they knock her our for about 2-3 hours then back to waking every 20-30 min.

The nutritionist and OT we met with this today said to ask our ped about a short period of melatonin drops to try and help reset her sleep cycle now that she is feeling better, vs just medicating her.

Our ped is pretty not crunchy and I am not sure how she would take to that.  I am also trying to help my LO and all of the family, get back on sleep track.  I have tried Bach flower remedies, chammomile (sp?) etc.  I really don't have words for how bad her sleep is messed up after all these months, but it is so so bad.  Each time we see the Dr they keep attempting more drugs. 

In this case, is the OT right and would a few days of melatonin be helpful? Is there a dosing recommendation for infants?  She is 8 months and 20 lbs now. 

Thoughts and wisdom would be great.

[Anastasiya]

I don't know dosing, but we also used melatonin to reset our DS's sleep cycle. I can't remember how old he was....two maybe? It did wonders, and after about a week we stopped using it.

I do know that there is some controversy surrounding it, with one side effect being that it can cause depression the next day. I never noticed this in DS.

I do know that it helps induce sleep but doesn't KEEP a child asleep, so if she's in pain she may continue the night waking anyway. Poor dear. :(

[tanyalynn]

DS was 14 mos when I started giving him melatonin, I started and stayed at 1mg per night.  There have got to be liquids, I... how did I give it to him?  Opened a capsule, maybe put it in 1 T of juice?  Or maybe hid it between 2 layers of applesauce, but if you can find a liquid, all the easier.  My kids have been on melatonin long-term--aside from helping people fall asleep, it's an antioxidant, and my kids have had a bit too much oxidative stress, so we've needed it for a while.

It helped him fall asleep quicker.  For my daughter, magnesium was what she needed to fall asleep, it gets used up awfully fast when there are weird stresses or absorption issues going on.  I think 80 or 100 mg per day back then?  I started that when she was a toddler and was clearly exhausted but couldn't fall asleep.  Neither addressed night-waking, but I hope some of the other changes you've made would help with that. 

Best of luck to you. 

[sbgrace]

How hard! My had a lot of issues too (GI (severe reflux most notably), developmental delay, sleep, failure to thrive) They scoped for EOS at 18 months and it was negative. He was diagnosed with a metabolic condition finally around 3.5.

We started at 3.5 with my son and I so wish I had known when he was younger. But, unfortunately, melatonin is good for going to sleep rather than staying asleep. You may find you have the same issues. I don't think it would hurt to try instead of the "knock her out" meds myself. You could also try dosing again once when she wakes the first time or so just to get some more sleep for both of you.

My instinct from my son is that maybe it's still pain related though (the waking)? Even if it's only habit the redose wouldn't help break the habit unless you snuck doses in before she woke somehow. I can't imagine waking myself to do that and it might wake her to do it anyway.

You could see if an extended release might work but I suspect crushing those up makes them no longer extended release. What a mess. I'm sorry. I hope you get some answers on her health very soon and relief for both of you.

[sbgrace]

Another thing....it might be revealing to have a sleep study.

[DeChRi]

Thank you all for your replies.  I'm not really sure if there is a great solution.  Part of her waking is discomfort. Part is habit.  The reality is that right now, she is as good as she is going to be for awhile and I am trying to get her some rest. And all of us.  Heck I dunno. I gave her 1 mg tonight which is really all I can feel good about giving her, and she went to sleep normally and has woken twice since, lol.  I'll stew on it some more as we continue down the path with her. I did think of magnesium. It is so hard for me to find things to get down her that don't bother her, btu I will explore this for sure.

[mbravebird]

Originally Posted by DeChRi 

I did think of magnesium. It is so hard for me to find things to get down her that don't bother her, btu I will explore this for sure.

Hugs to you -- you have got to be on the edge of sanity, with that much waking. I hope you guys figure something out soon. And that she gets more comfortable soon!!

I just wanted to add that you can get magnesium through epsom salts baths -- that raises the blood levels even more than oral supplements.