sleep study for 4 year old- question

[sleepnasta]

hi all.
my daughter who is 4 1/2 will be having a sleep study in a few days. i give her melatonin some nights to help her fall asleep. i'm thinking of giving her some before the study. do you think it will affect the results?
thanks.

[RogerSC]

For a child, that's a good question. I would ask my sleep doctor, they're happy to help with these kinds of questions.

[mollete]

Melatonin has a bunch of other functions besides helping sleep, including a significant relation to the onset of puberty.

Interestingly, young children already have tons of it (or should) floating around there already:





I think one would be hard-pressed to find a physician that advocates the use of melatonin in young children:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-edge- ... c-07a.html

[-tim]

Taking Melatonin before a sleep study could make the results useless. You need to let the sleep doctor know about this before the sleep study.

[sleepnasta]

Melatonin has a bunch of other functions besides helping sleep, including a significant relation to the onset of puberty.

Interestingly, young children already have tons of it (or should) floating around there already:





I think one would be hard-pressed to find a physician that advocates the use of melatonin in young children:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-edge- ... c-07a.html

actually our pediatrician, whom i trust very much has said it's ok to give her melatonin occasionally. the dose i use is very small, between 0.25 and 0.5 mg.

[sleepnasta]

also those graphs don't necessarily imply causation! there appears to be a correlation between the amount of melatonin and age but it's impossible to say from the graphs which causes which or if there is causation at all.

[SleepyonMagnoliaSt]

hi all.
my daughter who is 4 1/2 will be having a sleep study in a few days. i give her melatonin some nights to help her fall asleep. i'm thinking of giving her some before the study. do you think it will affect the results?
thanks.

Take it with you and ask. They told me that if DD (7) didn't fall asleep within a few hours to give benedryl. But your daughter might surprise you. Mine was out in 18 minutes

[mollete]

also those graphs don't necessarily imply causation!

Never said they did. Those are just "interesting things to know about melatonin".

Besides, puberty is overrated anyway.

[mollete]

A physician viewpoint on the use of nightly melatonin use:

http://www.kidsoc.org/news/press/entry/ ... -parents-1

[sleepnasta]

hi all.
my daughter who is 4 1/2 will be having a sleep study in a few days. i give her melatonin some nights to help her fall asleep. i'm thinking of giving her some before the study. do you think it will affect the results?
thanks.

Take it with you and ask. They told me that if DD (7) didn't fall asleep within a few hours to give benedryl. But your daughter might surprise you. Mine was out in 18 minutes

thank you! hopefully she will surprise. the sleep study starts an hour after her normal bed time so she should be good and tired by then.

[SleepyonMagnoliaSt]

hi all.
my daughter who is 4 1/2 will be having a sleep study in a few days. i give her melatonin some nights to help her fall asleep. i'm thinking of giving her some before the study. do you think it will affect the results?
thanks.

Take it with you and ask. They told me that if DD (7) didn't fall asleep within a few hours to give benedryl. But your daughter might surprise you. Mine was out in 18 minutes

thank you! hopefully she will surprise. the sleep study starts an hour after her normal bed time so she should be good and tired by then.

That's how ours was! DD goes to bed at 8 and her study started at 9. If she likes music? I played youtube lullabys until DD conked out. I really was surprised at how fast she fell asleep but be aware she may come home the next day and conk out. My daughter slept 8 hours at her sleep study but came home and slept another 9 like the dead. The sleep study was NOT restful at all

[mollete]

hi all.
my daughter who is 4 1/2 will be having a sleep study in a few days. i give her melatonin some nights to help her fall asleep. i'm thinking of giving her some before the study. do you think it will affect the results?
thanks.

Take it with you and ask. They told me that if DD (7) didn't fall asleep within a few hours to give benedryl. But your daughter might surprise you. Mine was out in 18 minutes

thank you! hopefully she will surprise. the sleep study starts an hour after her normal bed time so she should be good and tired by then.

A pediatric sleep study should begin at the child's normal bedtime. Waiting "a few hours" for sleep onset, then the exogenous melatonin peak (another hour) will really mess this study up.

BTW, benedryl, given it's long and unpredictable half-life, is not a particularly good choice for sleep in kids, especially given that late at night. Also, it's primary purpose is as an anticholinergic, so you've those effects in there as well.

However, this gives me an idea for another chapter....