# Valerian for toddler?



## Nate (Sep 3, 2003)

X-posted to family bed...

DD (19 mos) has never been a great sleeper. She's home during the day w/ DH, and last spring it started getting tougher & tougher for him to get her down for naps. During the summer she'd usually go to sleep in the stroller if it was hot enough, but now that it's cooler, no dice. If he tries to go in & lie down w/ her she'll start screaming before they even get into the bedroom. So most of the time she goes through a day w/ no naps. And believe me, she NEEDS a nap. When she doesn't nap she has more tantrums, doesn't play by herself, gets clingier & clingier, and when I get home at around 5:30 she'll often nurse & go straight to sleep. But of course then she'll sleep for about 2 hours & then be awake, which throws everyones' schedules off.

Yesterday at the natural foods store I noticed a special valerian tincture for children over 1 yr. Have others here used this? I was tempted to get it--I often will give her chamomile when she's too revved up--but part of me feels like that's one step away from drugging your child. THoughts?


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## oneotamama (Apr 23, 2004)

herbs for kids, right? valerian super calm?? yep, we've got it. we have TERRIBLE sleep issues w/ds and the chamomile calm didn't cut the mustard for us.

i give ds one dropper of the valerian every monday night when dh is gone and bedtime is all on my shoulders. it works miracles for us! i







it. ds can be bouncing of the walls and then becomes pleasant in the first few minutes after taking it.

i contacted the company about its safeness and they claim you can give it 3x/day for 6 weeks straight. take 1 week completely off and then start over. i use it much less than that so i don't worry about taking time off.

hth! good luck


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## littleteapot (Sep 18, 2003)

I have severe sleep disorders, and have since I was born, and I took valerian occassionally during my pregnancy to help me sleep.
Once or twice I even gave it to my super-colic child.

Right now lavender aromatherapy is working for us. Not a ton, but some. And a regular bedtime 'routine' really seems to helps her. She likes that security, I think. When we did the 'free for all' go to bed when you're tired thing, it dragged it out for 3-4 hours and there was a LOT of struggle.
I'd love to find a valerian tincture to try... my midwife really enjoyed it for her clients because of it's safety. (She had 25 years experience in herbal medicine, and shared her office with a naturopath/herbalist)


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## Guava~Lush (Aug 9, 2003)

I use the Valerian also. Not all the time but sometimes at night in his chamomile tea. My ds is 'a firecracker', as a ped put it. I drink from his tea too. If he is REALLY bouncing off the walls, then I put some in his oatmeal during lunch.
I had the chamomile homeopathic tablets that melt, cant think of the name, and he LOVES those. Ate them all. He's always asking for the 'calming down stuff'. Tee Hee.


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## SunnyRose (Apr 25, 2003)

I must be living in a bubble..I had NO clue they had this for kids! Athena is the worst sleeper,and is constantly going-if she actually takes a nap,its no more than 15 for the whole day....what was the actually brand name of both the chamomile and valerian? Can anyone give me more info? This just seriously,rocked my world


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## Guava~Lush (Aug 9, 2003)

Hylands comes in a white bottle. presently we have one that just says Calms on it.It should be next to all the homeopathic stuff in your health food store.Chamomile is from the same brand. And I just bought our health food store brand of Valerian root extract. I know there are others to choose from as well.
Happy shopping and sleeping


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## oneotamama (Apr 23, 2004)

sunnyrose- the brand that we use is called "Herbs for Kids." They have their own website it's just called http://www.herbsforkids.com (I think)


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## chow46 (Aug 21, 2004)

Oh yes! We've used it. Of course, I picked some up when my ds's ped. suggested giving him a dose of benadryl!!! Anyway, it's been wonderful for him when he is having a really hard time sleeping.

ETA: I really like the herbsforkids website, they have some good articles there, also. One of them talks about using chamomile and valerian with your kids. I'd check it out, at least for the information!


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## savannah smiles (May 4, 2004)

I tried Valerian drops with my dd but never noticed a difference. I've tried lots of things with her to encourage sleep but she's just one of those kids who's body/mind had to slowly mature into better sleep. She's 37 months and this past year has been wonderful - she sleeps in her own bed, puts herself to sleep happily flipping through books *and* sleeps through the night 75% of the time! All are things I never thought I'd see happen because she was waking up every 2-3 hours up until around her second birthday.
Good luck!


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## Nate (Sep 3, 2003)

Yep, Herbs for Kids. I bought some yesterday, but we haven't tried it yet. The herbsforkids site has a $2 coupon, btw.

For the other moms who haven't tried anything yet--I always noticed that when we gave dd Hyland's teething tabs, she was calmer afterwards. If she turns out to be one of the 5% of kids who get hyper from valerian, I guess we'll be trying the Hyland's again.

Thanks for the stories! We'll see how it goes. We do have a routine at bed, but naps are the bigger issue--she has a really hard time letting go w/o nursing, and often will be almost asleep then something will happen and she'll revive, and naps are then out of the question. Which makes the rest of the afternoon rather tough on poor DH...


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## SunnyRose (Apr 25, 2003)

Is this possible? I just bought the herbsfor kids chamomile...and I swear the past to nites she has been MORE awake!In fact its11pm and shes on my lap right now...dancing...say it isnt so...can it be that this would make her more hyper?


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## kavamamakava (Aug 25, 2004)

We use the valerian super calm as well. Not every night, but mostly when the kids are over tired and we've exhausted other efforts. Maybe twice a month?


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