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Dr. Hive - Melatonin - dosage help?


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*Update post #13*

 

Can anyone give me a good starting dose for my dd for melatonin? She is 6yo and weighs about 45lbs. She sleeps well once she gets to sleep after hours of getting back up and playing, but her days and nights are totally turned around and we've had no luck with attempts to fix it.

 

I bought 3mg today, but I'm not sure how much of a pill to give her.

 

Does it come in a liquid / chewable form for kids?

Edited by frugalmama
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I took my dd who is 15 and is grown up size to a sleep specialist. He recommended a whole procedure for getting her to sleep but part of it was melatonin. The dose for her, as a fully grown 15 yo, is 1mg. And yes, it does work, particularly if she does the other things the doctor recommended - hot shower, read dull book, and use special light in the morning.

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You want the lowest effective dose. The higher doses have a greater incidence of causing vivid dreams, drowsy waking, or building tolerance. My son takes .5 mg. He's 8 but about the same size. He's been taking it (per his doctor) at the same dose since he was 3.5. It's been a wonderful thing for him.

 

I wouldn't start with 3 mg. You could try to break that one up or you could get 1 mg and split it in 1/2. We purchase .5 mg but we have to get that dose from Amazon because they don't sell 1/2 mg doses around here.

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I started ds (130 lbs at the time) at .5mg. He is now at 1mg and will soon be increasing to 1.5mg. We take Friday and Saturday off. He is a big kid, but he is very sensitive to most things. We go for the lowest effective dose for everything he takes. It's best to start low and slowly increase. I gave ds a 3mg by accident, and he was having some freaky dreams, lucid dreaming, etc... It was a bit scary!

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Thanks everyone for your help. I gave her about 1/6 of a 5mg pill last night {so about .75mg} and it worked WONDERFULLY. *Fingers Crossed* it wasn't just a fluke. She took the pill just fine, I put it in a spoonful of pudding :D

 

 

Dd woke at close to 7am {when I did}, and got right up without even being sleepy! She's been going strong all day - not her normal I'm tired self. She said she felt much more rested than normal and that it was easier to fall asleep. And in her words - "I'm not a sleepy possum today mama, I'm a bright eyed bushy-tailed squirrel!" We always called her possum because she possums and goes back to sleep all day long.

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My DS almost never takes melatonin anymore, but back when he did we actually cut the Trader Joe's .5 mg ones in half, and that did the trick for him. Which makes one wonder if it was a placebo effect, so small is that dose. But without it he was up for HOURS; with it, asleep in 10 minutes. Shrug.

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I found 3mg to be too much. However, my 18month old is on 3mg and it seems just fine. His is liquid. Dr said to do it for a time to reset his clock. Before we did it, he would carry on in his crib for hours and then wake up in the night and wake up early. Now, he is out pretty quickly and out all night. Though he is often first to wake up, it isn't at an altogether inappropriate hour.

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Thanks everyone for your help. I gave her about 1/6 of a 5mg pill last night {so about .75mg} and it worked WONDERFULLY. *Fingers Crossed* it wasn't just a fluke. She took the pill just fine, I put it in a spoonful of pudding :D

 

 

Dd woke at close to 7am {when I did}, and got right up without even being sleepy! She's been going strong all day - not her normal I'm tired self. She said she felt much more rested than normal and that it was easier to fall asleep. And in her words - "I'm not a sleepy possum today mama, I'm a bright eyed bushy-tailed squirrel!" We always called her possum because she possums and goes back to sleep all day long.

 

Yay! I'm glad it worked for her. It sounds like she desperately needed the help.

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