We're following all the most conservative safety recommendations of that and similar articles: using melatonin only intermittently, and at doses lower than a healthy brain produces on its own (300 mcg or lower).
It definitely has a much more dramatic effect on sleep onset problems than on other sorts of sleep problems, but we did find that Chuckles's night-waking problems were reduced by about a third, maybe. (She used to be up for 2+ hours in the middle of the night once every week or two, and each time there were days' worth of smaller aftershocks until we got her back on track.) My feeling is that for her, anyway, getting to sleep before she gets overtired and getting some really deep, restful sleep early in the night *does* help keep her asleep, although it's obviously not the entire answer.
She still wakes up at 3:00 AM unable to fall back asleep maybe once a month or so, but she's finally independent enough (she's three and half now) that after she comes and checks in with us, she's usually willing to go back to her room and play quietly. Sometimes she falls asleep after playing for a few hours, sometimes she's up till morning.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2006-04-11 03:46 pm (UTC)We're following all the most conservative safety recommendations of that and similar articles: using melatonin only intermittently, and at doses lower than a healthy brain produces on its own (300 mcg or lower).
It definitely has a much more dramatic effect on sleep onset problems than on other sorts of sleep problems, but we did find that Chuckles's night-waking problems were reduced by about a third, maybe. (She used to be up for 2+ hours in the middle of the night once every week or two, and each time there were days' worth of smaller aftershocks until we got her back on track.) My feeling is that for her, anyway, getting to sleep before she gets overtired and getting some really deep, restful sleep early in the night *does* help keep her asleep, although it's obviously not the entire answer.
She still wakes up at 3:00 AM unable to fall back asleep maybe once a month or so, but she's finally independent enough (she's three and half now) that after she comes and checks in with us, she's usually willing to go back to her room and play quietly. Sometimes she falls asleep after playing for a few hours, sometimes she's up till morning.