re: melatonin?

Quoting Mommy of a giggler!:" My son with autism is 5 and has gotten melatonin almost every night for the last 1.5 yrs. He gets .75-3mg ... [snip!] ... much stopped once he was actually getting enough sleep, a lot of the time if they aren't sleeping, it's enough to trigger it."

I believe that is what triggers her's. I kept a pretty good journal of her sleep habits and noticed that pattern. It is almost a guarantee that if she skips a nap, she will sleep terrible.

I guess I will start out low like .75 then. She falls asleep without an issue. I read her two stories, daddy and I give her kisses and she is out a few minutes later. It ujst doesn't last more than an hour.

Quoting Up In Smoke Signals:" That's what I would do. Start low and see if it makes a difference. It might be just the thing she needs. ... [snip!] ... she needs. Don't feel like a smurf mom. Sometimes people just don't make enough of a certain chemical and need a little help. "

I wonder if there is a genetic component? Sleepwalking can be traced to genes. I used to be a sleepwalker and my son didn't sleep through the night until he was 4. He used to sleep walk into our room and start screaming weird, random things in the middle of the night.  

<blockquote><b>Quoting SemiCharmed:</b>" I wonder if there is a genetic component? Sleepwalking can be traced to genes. I used to be a sleepwalker ... [snip!] ... until he was 4. He used to sleep walk into our room and start screaming weird, random things in the middle of the night.  "</blockquote>


Isnt sleep walking and night terrors close to the same thing. Just night terrors are more of a nightmare?

Quoting SemiCharmed:" I wonder if there is a genetic component? Sleepwalking can be traced to genes. I used to be a sleepwalker ... [snip!] ... until he was 4. He used to sleep walk into our room and start screaming weird, random things in the middle of the night.  "

That's a good question! I'm a sleepwalker but only if I fall asleep somewhere that isn't my bed. I'm also a sleep talker but I talk backwards supposedly. I wouldn't know   but I don't think anybody else in my family has those issues. SO....ex I mean...has insomnia. LO apparently still doesn't sleep through the night and she'll be 3 in January.

<blockquote><b>Quoting Up In Smoke Signals:</b>" That's a good question! I'm a sleepwalker but only if I fall asleep somewhere that isn't my bed. I'm ... [snip!] ... those issues. SO....ex I mean...has insomnia. LO apparently still doesn't sleep through the night and she'll be 3 in January."</blockquote>
Yeah my 5 yr old rarely sleeps thought the night. She ends up in our bed most nights. Idk if she sleep walks in here or wakes up. It's awful. She's a horrible sleeper. And she doesn't get good sleep cause she's always tired. Her teacher said she skips recess a lot cause she's laying on the ground resting cause she's too tired to play   poor baby.

Quoting Up In Smoke Signals:" That's a good question! I'm a sleepwalker but only if I fall asleep somewhere that isn't my bed. I'm ... [snip!] ... those issues. SO....ex I mean...has insomnia. LO apparently still doesn't sleep through the night and she'll be 3 in January."

I found this:
:The article offers clinical information on sleepwalking and night terrors. It cites that sleepwalking and night terrors might arise from the same basic neurophysiological disorder, and might be genetically influenced. Information on research about somnambulism is given, including its prevalence and association with stress and psychological disturbance. The clinical management of children with sleepwalking and night terror problems is also discussed.

My school library server is down so i can't get access to the full article but that was the abstract.

Once I got up and rubbed shampoo in my dry hair and went back to bed after a weird shower dream. I was 14 or so. I was pissed when I woke up!  

HLA-DQB1 typing was performed in 60 Caucasian subjects with sleepwalking (SW) disorder and their families and 60 ethnically matched subjects without any diagnosed sleep disorder. A total of 21 sleepwalkers (35.0%) were DQB1*0501 positive vs eight (13.3%) controls (P¼0.0056; odds ratio¼3.5, 95% CI¼1.4–8.7). The family data for all HLA subtypes were further assessed
for allelic association with SW using the transmission–disequilibrium test. A significant excess transmission was observed for DQB1*05 and *04 alleles in familial cases, strongly suggesting that a DQB1 polymorphic amino acid might be more tightly associated than any single allele. Sequence screening revealed that Ser74 in the second exon shared by all DQB1*05 and *04 was 20 times transmitted against 4 times non-transmitted (P¼0.001) in familial cases of SW. Thus, together with narcolepsy and REM sleep behavior disorder, these findings suggest that specific DQB1 genes are implicated in disorders of motor control during sleep.
Molecular Psychiatry (2003) 8, 114–117. doi:10.1038/sj.mp.4001203

The whole idea of sleep is weird and interesting to me.

Quoting SemiCharmed:" As I have mentioned before...my daughter doesn't sleep much. She wakes every 45 minutes or so, usually ... [snip!] ... sleep study. So WWYD? Would you do the melatonin? If I don't, we won't get the sleep study. ETA: She is 2.5, will be 3 on 3/31"

My son takes melatonin from time to time & it works woderfully! I suggest trying it.