Negative effects of melatonin use wih children?

[SeekingBalance]

Good  morning.

I am trying to "tease out" some answers for problems with the behavior of my six year old son, who is in grade one in a public elementary school and will turn 7 in June.

While we've had a long string of "symptoms" over 2 years or 2.5 years, his difficulties in grade one have really upped the ante and we need to find the best ways to help him. In a nutshell, he is very emotional, is becoming increasingly inflexible, has poor self-control/self-regulation and the result tends to be very "hands on" aggressive behaviour. This is having an impact on his self-esteem - he's seeing himself as bad (he says "an idiot") and seems very insecure about all his relationships. It makes my heart ache.

He is seeing a psychologist for CBT. We're seeing the family doctor this week for blood work and a referral to a sleep clinic/assessment. I have put in a call to someone locally who has an excellent reputation for thorough testing for ADHD.

What I wanted to ask you about is the potential impact of melatonin on mood/behaviour. Our son has taken approximately 1.5 ml of melatonin (liquid, in a glass of juice or water) 1/2 an hour before bed almost every night for 1.5 years. We started because he was increasingly having difficulties falling asleep. It was taking sometimes 1.5 hours to fall asleep and of course, he could barely hold it together when we had to get up for school the next day. With the melatonin he started getting 8 - 10 more hours of sleep a week!

However, with the progressive decline in his behaviour over the past six months, I just wondered if it was possible the melatonin was causing this? Or contributing to it?

Just trying to explore all avenues!

Thank you for your help.

Megan

[Emmeline II]

Not that I can find. Melatonin has actually been considered as a treatment for ADHD.

It is possible that the dose you are giving him is no longer enough and that he is not getting as much quality sleep as you think he is. I give my 1st grader 1mg time-released and 1mg regular melatonin.

Effect of melatonin on sleep, behavior, and cognition in ADHD and chronic sleep-onset insomnia.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17242627

[~cassie]

I haven't come across any effects yet.  But I do understand that melatonin is NOT fully understood and is being researched quite a bit.  All of my kid's need melatonin to sleep and we haven't had any side effects yet.

[beenmum]

We have used it for 5 years or more. No side effects. Its a naturally occuring element in your body.

[karne]

Absolutely no side effects here.  I hope that you find some answers.  It sounds like you're investigating pretty thoroughly.

Before we began treatment for ADD in my ds, his self concept was in freefall.  It was so important to him that we really clearly explain that we understood that what he was experiencing was not his fault, and that as the grown ups, it was our job to figure out the best way to help.  We said over and over again that it would get better.  He needed to hear that.

[SeekingBalance]

Thank you to all for sharing your thoughts and experiences, as well as the link to the research. I just wanted to put that out there as we try to determine where the issues lie.

@karne - I found your email very affirming. I am taking that approach with my son as well. This is temporary, we're in it together, we'll get through and it is Mommy and Daddy's responsibility to find the right kinds of help. It is his responsibility to do his best to share his own thoughts and feelings with us.

[karne]

Originally Posted by SeekingBalance 

Thank you to all for sharing your thoughts and experiences, as well as the link to the research. I just wanted to put that out there as we try to determine where the issues lie.

@karne - I found your email very affirming. I am taking that approach with my son as well. This is temporary, we're in it together, we'll get through and it is Mommy and Daddy's responsibility to find the right kinds of help. It is his responsibility to do his best to share his own thoughts and feelings with us.

I should have added that it HAS gotten better-profoundly so.  Best wishes.

[Stephenie]

I  will second the thought that the dose needed may have changed. We had been using it for almost two years with our  son and then his sleep was back where it was before he started on it. We upped it a bit and things  got much, much better.

[buttercup]

I have used melatonin for all 3 of my children with autism and have never had any negative effects.  It has been positive.  You may not want to answer this, but I am only opening up thoughts of possible avenues to research.  With the aggressive behavior, poor self regulation, inability to fall asleep, etc.  Those were symptoms for my kids when they had candida or some kind of bad bacteria overgrowth.  May i ask if you have him on probiotics?  Maybe look into getting him a good multistrain one with CFU in the billions and use activated charcoal for the die off.  Another thought is whether he has enough magnesium (calming effect), Calcium and even zinc in his diet.  He probably eats a well rounded diet, but his body may not be absorbing them.  I found this with my children when we were doing biomedical/ dietary interventions to treat the underlying health issues that commonly occur in ASD children.  Just thoughts.  I hope you find an answer. 

[moonfirefaery]

I've used it with both of mine with no visible side effects. If it's too noisy, too early, daylight outside, etc., it doesn't help much; but if it's quiet, dark, and they're wired, it helps them fall asleep. I think when our kids have special challenges it just makes them worse for them to not get enough sleep--and better when they do.

[SeekingBalance]

Hi Buttercup,

I didn't even think to consider, or treat, candida... Thanks for the idea. I'm going to try the probiotics and see if that helps. I use magnesium with my oldest ds who is a bit anxious and it has seemed to have a calming effect - but I can't get my youngest to take the liquid magnesium... and he hasn't yet been swallowing pills. But I may need to give this a try also. Thank you so much for your respond, I really appreciate hearing from all of you.

[blessedwithboys]

My ds2 was exhibiting signs of early-onset bipolar disorder from birth but he didn't start melatonin til he was 2 or 3.  He's always a mess, but moreso when he hasn't had in in a day or two, because he isn't sleeping.

WRT magnesium, ds LOVES a packet of NaturalCalm in water with a packet of Truvia.  He also loves hot Epsom/sea salt soaks in the tub.

[BeautyforAshes]

I doubt it.  We have used melatonin with our dd for 2 yrs without any problems.  Do you take breaks from it?  You need to take a couple/few days off of it once a month or so, or it loses effectiveness.