Ok dd has been up since 3am!!

[5knights3maidens]

Dd is not a good sleeper. I give her 3 mg. melatonin and she still wakes up in the middle of the night. Yesterday she had a drs. appt. (DAN). He gave her Seriphos to use along with the melatonin. She has been non stop since 3 am and I am so tired! Also, he also gave her (because of getting sick) Buffered Vit. C, extra zinc, and vitamin A...only to be used for 7 days.

She regularly takes zinc, magnesium, calcium/magnesium, Elyte pre-mix minerals, Miracle 2000, B12 and B complex 50.

I'm wondering if she is getting to much calcium and/or magnesium because the Seriphos also has it. Any ideas?

[PrincessAriel]

I have heard that too much B vitamin can interfere with sleep. It should be taken earlier in the day. Also, I know for myself, I take my magnesium and calcium before bed as it is helpful in relaxing and going to sleep. HTH!

[Ottakee]

Look for a time release melatonin. This is supposed to help with STAYING asleep as well as falling asleep.

[Misty]

I'm wondering if she is getting to much calcium and/or magnesium

 

Be careful with too much calcium. I was putting cal/mag in my 3 girls' milkshakes earlier this year. One of them developed a kidney stone and I think it might have been too much calcium. She was also drinking a lot of milk and eating a lot of brocoli.

 

So I don't give that particular daughter cal/mag anymore and she doesn't really need it anyway. She's my most neurotypical daughter.

[ChristineMM]

I am not giving medical advice. I will share that when I was having trouble sleeping my NP told me to take a powdered form of cal/mag, put it in water and drink about 30 minutes before bed. I was told that way of taking it absorbs better than a pill form and is better for helping with sleep.

 

My understanding is if a person is mag-DEPRIVED they will have sleeplessness so adding mag to a mag-deficient person will fix it and 'make them normal' that means they will sleep normally. In other words if a person is not mag-deprived then taking mag will NOT make them sleep more. I hope I'm explaining that so it makes sense.

 

All supplements should be taken and dosed by a health care provider due to the overdosing concerns...

 

What time is your child going to bed? Are you having a too-early bedtime?

 

I find that parents I know who complain about this are forcing their kids to bed what I call very early (7pm, 7:30, 8pm). If you prefer a later sleeping situation you have to trade it off for letting the child stay up later at night. We have never had a bedtime here earlier than 9:30pm for our kids (we have always homeschooled so this has been possible for us). My friend used to put her DD to bed at 7pm then get mad she was up at 5:30am and I said, well, she slept 10.5 hours how much more do you expect her to sleep? Also other friends of mine have bedtime battles mostly resulting form forcing a not tired kid to falll asleep early (before 8pm) even on days when it is still sunlight out they don't get it when their kid is wide awake.

 

How much physical activity does the child have? Enough? A child without enough exercise will not sleep as deeply and will not need as much sleep.

 

Lastly have you considered that your child just doesn't need a lot of sleep? Some people are totally normal to need only 4, 5 or 6 hours per night and be completely rested up.

 

If your child has allergies or sensitivities of various kinds (food, chemical, etc.) then that may be waking her up.

 

Also is the bedroom cool enough? Enough fresh air? Blankets not too heavy? We all sleep better here in colder rooms, windows open when possible and heavier covers than when the room air is hot and the covers are lighter.

 

I don't know your child's situation but I have been reading about giftedness and was surprised to learn that either requiring very little sleep or requiring a lot more sleep are two factors present in gifted kids and gifted adults too. Very interesting....

[cillakat]

have a look at total amounts calcium and magnesium...

 

we too use orthomolecular medicine (vites, minerals, amino acids, efa's) for various things....optimal health, one part of our adhd treatment, mood issues.

 

think of calcium as the contractor and magnesium as the relaxer. you want the right amount of both but not too much of either. many will need more magnesium than the typical 2:1 ratio. I do better (so does dd9.5) with 1:1 ratio of cal/mag.

 

We also had the 'waking at 3 am' thing for years. What helped?

 

1)she finally 'grew out of it' at 8.5. Yup 8.5

2)what helped in the mean time? tryptophan chased with an ounce of juice was more effective than melatonin.

3)b-6 and C are co-factors for tryptophans conversion to seratonin then to melatonin. provide the raw factors in the right amounts so that the body can make what it needs.

4)middle of the night waking can also be adrenal fatigue......additional C and b-5 can be helpful.

 

so it would go like this.....

~dinnertime - carb-ish dinner. b5, b6, c, appropriate amount of calcium, mag based on her individual needs - some protein, but definite focus on carbs

~no food for 2 hours

~250 mg tryptophan (1/2 tablet) w/ an ounce of juice on an empty-ish stomach, 2h after dinner.....

~wait 30 min.....

~nuts and apple or nut butter and apple or 1/2 banana

bed

 

She needed all of it. She takes cal/mag throughout the day.......about 600 mg calcium citrate (supplements) and a little more calcium from foods. about 400 mg mag citrate (be careful, it can have a laxative effect on most folks) and another 200-300 mg magnesium glycinate time released (Jigsaw Health is the only one who makes this).

 

she gets about 800-1000 IU vitamin d from food/supplements.

 

3g fish oil....1:1 to 1:2 ratio DHA:EPA

 

There's more but those are the majors.......

 

:)

K