Hi, vlbhopes. I don't speak from experience and can only give you a partial answer. Melatonin is finding favor with some leading pdocs. One prominent child bipolar expert I have interviewed gets encouraging results on the kids he works with. A prominent feature of bipolar is disturbed sleep, especially in kids. If we can get the sleep right, often the other symptoms become a lot easier to manage. As well as helping you sleep, melatonin helps regulate the sleep cycle. It is also tied into regulating body temperature which also regulates sleep. Melatonin is produced naturally in the brain as a result of serotonin breaking down.

Apparently there is some kind of extended release version out there.

Please bring up the matter with your boy's pdoc. It is not wise to free-lance with natural remedies, as there could be side effects and interactions issues.

Hope this helps -