Melatonin may seem like a harmless sleep aid, but the supplement is increasingly sending kids to the hospital. Now experts are warning parents to be more cautious about giving their kids and teens melatonin.
While there is some evidence that people can use melatonin, a natural hormone, to manage some sleep issues (such as jet lag), there isn't as much clear value to using melatonin to help kids or adults fall asleep more quickly, Dr. M. Adeel Rishi, vice chair of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine Public Safety Committee, said in a press release.
The use of melatonin has been steadily on the rise over the past two decades — with a particularly sharp increase during the COVID-19 pandemic. But people may not realize that, even though it’s sold as an over-the-counter supplement, melatonin can cause potentially serious side effects in kids, such as nausea, abdominal pain and excessive tiredness, TODAY reported previously.
In fact, calls to poison control centers involving kids ingesting melatonin rose more than 500% over the last 10 years, according to recent research. The researchers also saw the number of kids being hospitalized after taking melatonin increase as well, including two deaths.
“The availability of melatonin as gummies or chewable tablets makes it more tempting to give to children and more likely for them to overdose,” Rishi noted.
So, parents should not give melatonin to kids without talking to their pediatrician first, the AASM said in a health alert on Sept. 20. Parents should also treat melatonin like they would any other drug — so keep it out of kids' reach — and encourage children to develop healthy sleep behaviors before reaching for supplements, AASM added.
“Instead of turning to melatonin, parents should work on encouraging their children to develop good sleep habits," Rishi said, "like setting a regular bedtime and wake time, having a bedtime routine and limiting screen time as bedtime approaches.”
In some cases, melatonin can still be used alongside those behavioral changes, Dr. Craig Canapari, director of the Pediatric Sleep Medicine Program at the Yale School of Medicine, told TODAY previously. And, if parents decide — along with their child’s pediatrician — that melatonin may be helpful, it’s important to discuss recommended dosage and timing for taking the medication, the AASM said.
But "you can’t medicate yourself out of poor sleep hygiene," Canapari stressed.
