Melatonin for My 2 Year Old?

I have a 6-year-old daughter that has been taking Melatonin on and off for about 4 years. It helps tremendously. You can buy it at GNC. I think it's about $4 for 60 pills. Get the sublingual kind that are cherry flavored and they can chew them. You have to find the right amount. I tried 1, it didn't work, tried 2, still didn't work, she takes three 1 mg tablets and within 30 minutes she's sound asleep. Hope this helps. It's very safe for kids to take.

I take Melatonin myself often. I like the 3mg for me, but if I give it to my son (3yo) I open the capsule and sprinkle a little in his mouth- it is tasteless and it does the trick. They only need a very little bit so start low, you can get them really inexpensive at Swanson's Vitamins - I think right now they are like $1.99 for 60 1mg, buy one get one free - so you will get 120 for that price.

My almost 5-year-old was never a good sleeper, and she would take at least an hour to fall asleep. When she was 3 I started giving her melatonin. I use a liquid so I can measure it exactly, and I give her .25 ml. I tried other things 1st, such a Valerian Super Calm by Herbs for Kids and Calms Forte 4 Kids by Hyland's. Neither seemed to help, but you might want to try these before melatonin. Melatonin can cause disturbing dreams. Good luck!

I wouldn't give Melatonin, unless you speak to your pediatrician. I do want to recommend a book to you, called "Happy sleep habits, healthy child" by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. He does have some great tips on establishing better sleep habits and helping kids sleep through the night and also falling asleep.

My pediatrician also recommended the melatonin for my son..He just turned 3 and has been on it for couple months now. You can buy it at any pharmacy or store. It is with the vitamins. I would suggest the 1mg for your 2 yr old. Or could buy the 3mg and cut them. But, wouldn't start out at the 3mg as the lower dose will more than likely do the trick. It has worked great for us. No more waking throughout the night or laying there forever until he finally goes to sleep. One thing with this though is lighting affects it. My little man gets up when the son gets bright(usually bout 8am) and will act completely awake after I give him the med at night until I turn the lights out. Once I turn them out he's out in less than 5min. He used to stay up and try to play even in the dark. Not anymore. lol Well, hope works for you. Good luck..

I would try putting your son to bed earlier at night and see if that helps. if he is not taking a nap i would put him down an hour earlier at night to make up for the nap missed. after a week or so you may find that he catches up and starts taking naps again. i would say he is over tired, especially as he is waking 2 times during the night. sleep begets sleep they say and it wor\rks for us. my son is 3 1/2 and still naps most days (2 hours) and then goes to bed around 8pm until 7.30am. if he misses his nap he is in bed around 7pm. they need their sleep :)

I'm not against using drugs once in a while, but I think I'd try cutting down the nap or eliminating it altogether first. My kids all experienced the same thing around the age of two or two and a half, and it was the nap. I cut it down to an hour, half an hour and then finally had to cut it out altogether. It seems sad to give up nap time (my own free time!!), but it is great when they sleep all night again.

Hello J.,

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Hi J.,
The great thing about melatonin is it's all natural and can be bought at dollar general for like 3 bucks.
It does work-great in fact.
However, I don't know much about giving it to a child at the age of 2.
The hard thing is it's a pill, so maybe you could melt it or crush it but if you do give it to him I wouldn't give him the whole pill. With him being young I'd do half the pill. I beleive they are like 3 mg maybe 5?...
The thing is an average adult is told to take one tablet.
I would maybe even do a google search.
S.

J.,

I would NOT recommend giving melatonin to a child. It really isn't even proven to work in adults, although some people get relief. I am a pharmacist.

D.

no my ground daughter whos 2 years old she got one of pills and is 10 mg
she had in her peruse i think i might have drop it cause i take a lot med from back surgy i take moring and two at nigjt it helps me sleep tell me she going be okay i took that pill away from her but she stardet cry she wanted to go to slee i know if she ahold of another one

Don't use without talking to doctor and ruling out other issues or just part of growing. Some kids don't take naps anymore and it's okay just to have a "quiet time" to relax. Each child is different too. Your youngest may not as much sleep as your older child.

J. I hear you and I think that trying melatonin is a great idea. My sister uses it with her kids every now and then and it works very well. I am sure you have monitored your childs sugar snacks etc by now so if the doctor mentioned it I would do it in a minute. Good luck to you.

All I would do is cut the nap out. When my son was 2 1/2, he started having trouble falling asleep at night, so I cut out his nap during the day and he was totally fine. As long as a 2 year old gets 10-12 hours of sleep a night, it doesn't matter if they have a nap or not. I would never ever give my child anything to help him sleep though, it's a very bad habit to begin, and plus doesn't actually solve the problem. Most kids take naps until they're 3-5, but not all of them. My daughter took 1 nap a day until she was almost 4, but my son just simply didn't need one at 2 1/2

Sleeping pills for a toddler? Call you doctor, but seems a bit ridiculous....

My son does that sometimes too, but since he is happy, we let him go.

So can I give my ten year old a melatonin

I would hold off on the melatonin until you talk with your Doctor,but in the meantime take a look at what your son is eating and drinking. This will be the first question from your Doctor. What one child can tolerate doesn't mean another can. Good luck. A.

My son has had night terrors since he was 1. Which trust me are no fun! The nuerologist suggested melatonin. GNC stores sell sublingual pills which means they melt under the tongue. My son just liked to chew them. With the melatonin it is natural and something your brain produces to tell you that it is dark and it is time to go to sleep. Some people just don't produce enough. So I gave it to my son on nights that he would go to bed too late because he would be over tired and being over tired triggers night terrors.

I woke up last night to see my son sitting on bed in the dark singing and song and wide awake at 10pm. He went to bed at 8:45pm. He doesn't take it all the time but I did give him some last night. I would talk to your doctor. My son is now 9 years old. Very rarely has any sleep issues but if he is having a hard time getting to sleep I give him a cherry flavored melatonin and he is asleep in about 30 mins. He is old enough now that if he can't get to sleep he will let me know.

I have used it before too. It is better than taking advil pm. Why would you take an advil if all you need is sleep and you don't have pain.

This seems to be a big thing right now. I had a natropath doctor friend of mine recommend it for my son a few weeks ago and it seems to be helping a lot. I mentioned it to my neighbor whose son has sleep issues and she said she wanted to look into it - in the mean time, he had his 6 year old check up and his Pediatrician recommended it to her 9without her bringing it up).
Both the the Natropath and the Ped both recommended .5mg for our 5 and 6 year olds.
good luck

I just read this, so would say no until after you've talked to your child's pediatrician. "Melatonin is a natural hormone and long term in young people can affect their growth hormone. I would be more interested in exploring his diet, bedtime routines, parental response to his sleep issues, medications, tonsils and adenoids, etc to see if we can determine a cause for his sleep issues and address that."

from Dr. Bennett Machanic, a top Neurologist with 43 years of experience, @
from https://www.healthtap.com/user_questions/218762"