Exhausted 5 year old

[pogofire80]

My son has never really slept. Since he came home from the hospital, he has never wanted to sleep, to this day I can't explain it. I've tried several things to help him sleep, but none have worked. The last thing I tried was giving him some Chamomile Tea, since I heard it's relaxing. Well, that didn't work either, so I'm thinking of trying Melatonin. But, I don't know too much about it. Can it be addicting, how much can I give him, is it truly safe?

[sleepinglizard]

I strongly recommend that you ask your pediatrician to send your son to a Pediatric Board of sleep medicine certified doctor for a sleep study. There can be many reasons why your son isn't sleeping and a sleep study is a non-invasive way of going to the route of the problem. To learn more about sleep studys, please check out the following link.

http://www.talkaboutsleep.com/sleep-disorders/archives/viewasleepstudy.htm


For a self assessment quiz, please check out the following link.

http://www.talkaboutsleep.com/app/index.cfm?fuseaction=sleepQuiz.view


To find a board of sleep medicine doctor in your area, please check out the following link. (Make sure to look for a pediatric one if possible)

http://www.absm.org/Diplomates/listing.htm


To find an Accadamy of Sleep medicine certified clinic in your area, please check out the following link.

http://www.sleepcenters.org/


I'd highly recommend getting to the bottom of your sons problem, rather then throwing supplements at it. There may be an underlying problem that needs fixing that supplements can't fix.

[sleepinglizard]

Here is an extremely pertinent article with an MD on this very subject.

http://www.talkaboutsleep.com/sleep-disorders/archives/childrensdisorders_sleepless_child.htm