If you talk to my 8 year old today, he will tell you, “Mom made we overdose last night.” Technically, this is true. But as that guy whose name I can’t think of right now used to say, “Now…the rest of the story.”
My son has never voluntarily slept. Ever. When he was a newborn, he would nap for five minutes at a time, and that’s if I was lucky. I remember once he slept long enough for me to shampoo AND condition. I remember this…eight years later…because of how odd it was…and how awesome my hair felt for those few extra minutes until there was spit-up in it again.
Some time back, his doctor recommended we try melatonin before bed. I kid you not, the child himself started calling it his “antidote.” He takes 5 mg and 30-45 minutes later he is in dreamland…and I’m watching a show with the F-word in it.
We are coming to the end of one melatonin bottle and just got another, but it’s a different brand. One bottle is 1 gummy = 5 mg and the other bottle is 2 gummies = 5 mg. I got them mixed up and ended up giving him 2 gummies for a total 10 mg. After we figured out what I did, you would have thought I gave him a line of cocaine. Dude, it was an extra melatonin gummy. I don’t think we need to go to the Emergency Room.
Somehow he managed to survive the night and he is his normal self today. Hopefully I can lay low from drug enforcement until his memory fades.
I don’t mean to make light of the subject. I have never done an illegal drug in my life, and my mom was a nurse so I grew up knowing you absolutely follow the instructions on the bottle (and go wash your hands…again…and use soap). But I don’t feel super bad about one extra gummy. When talking to my oldest son’s doctor about melatonin at his last visit, she said some people take half a bottle to get to sleep. Could she have been exaggerating? Yes (and I hope so because that would cost a small fortune over the course of…just one freaking day).
One extra gummy? I think he’ll be okay. I’ll save the mommy guilt for next time…which I’m sure is coming very soon.
And now for the rest of the story- Paul Harvey