My 9 yr. old ADHD/Asperger's son has tried many things to help fall asleep and stay asleep. The Melatonine worked great for helping him fall asleep. However, he too complained of bad dreams. I just dismissed the complaint for a while because I felt he was getting more sleep by falling asleep quickly. He became more haggered and irritable because he was having troubled sleep. When I mentioned it to the Psychiatrist, she said to stop the Melatonine immediately. She said bad dreams was an unusual side affect but certainly the Melatonine was causing the bad dreams. We have begun a sleep study. The first step has been building my son's iron stores with a prescription multi-vitamin with extra iron. A blood draw to check the Feratin (iron stores) level showed a below normal level. Some physicians suggest restless leg syndrome can be caused by a low Feratin level, thus impacting sleep. After 6 months of the extra iron, my son's Feratin level is still low. So, he'll go to the next step of a "sleep-over" with the sleep study folks. An interesting side note: My son would end up sleeping on the floor most nights after spinning around and around in the bed. We bought a bigger bed with a 3" foam mattress and he stays in the bed most nights. He doesn't seem to spin as much. He also likes a heating pad in the bed. He says the warmth helps him relax.

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Yeah it is matter of concern. Show her to child doctor. And medicine every time is not good for health. A study of 866 children between the ages of 2 through 13 found that youngsters who frequently snore or have sleep disorders are almost twice as likely to suffer from ADHD than those who sleep well.

When children are not receiving adequate rest, a multitude of behaviors may arise which can be easily confused with ADHD. Assessing for and maintaining a normal sleep pattern is a critical aspect of diagnosing and managing ADHD patients. When an abnormality is identified, appropriate sleep hygiene is usually effective, but beware of other types of sleep disorders, as identified above, that may require specialized treatment.

http://www.dbpeds.org/articles/detail.cfm?TextID=795

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AU1984 said: My 7 yr old has major sleep issues! He takes Melatonin to help him get to sleep, but is up nightly in the middle of the night complaining of "bad dreams". I feel like I have a newborn again! He is currently on 30 mg of Ritalin LA. Any suggestions?!!!

Bad dreams may not be a sleeping disorder. When I started working graveyard shifts 4 years ago I tried some sleeping pills to help me get the rest I needed. In addition to working poorly, I had nightmares I couldn't wake up from. A couple months ago, after being on and off graveyard shifts, I started to have sleeping problems again. Becoming concerned about taking sleeping pills, I spent some free time looking up sleeping disorders and sleeping pills. One thing I came across was melatonin (like your son was/is taking), I also discovered that a dosage of 3mg or more can cause vivid nightmares. Nature's Bounty makes five or six different dossage levels, and currently I have been on a 1mg dose for over a month with not a single nightmare! If you decide to go this route, please be sure to give your son 8 hours sleep, or else he will be very sluggish and unresponsive if he wakes up earlier than that (at least, I am anyways ;D). As with any medication, always read the labels :)

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