When children take melatonin, it can make them fall asleep soon after. Melatonin, parents say it vanquishes the bedtime struggle and eases tension in the household for everyone.
The negative impact of melatonin on kids’ health remains more of an amorphous possibility than a concrete inevitability, which partly explains why so many well-informed parents and caregivers continue to ignore or downplay negative headlines. The American Academy of Pediatrics notes somewhat opaquely that there are concerns about how it might affect a child’s growth and development when used at length. It is not sure what the impact is, and that’s the problem. There is a shortage of research on the long-term effects of regular melatonin use by children and that the research that does exist has been fairly inconclusive. Participants in a 2018 study reported delayed puberty after taking the hormone for an average of seven years as children. In animal studies, melatonin has been shown to suppress the secretion of gonadotropin-releasing hormone, which stimulates the production of other hormones that help the ovaries and testicles mature and function. The body’s nocturnal secretion of melatonin tends to drop throughout childhood, paralleling the progression of sexual maturity. Raise the former, and you may be slowing the latter. And a 2022 study concluded that whether or not melatonin could play an important role in the pubertal onset in humans is still an open question.
The contents inside the gummy bottles are also a question mark, though the packaging tells a straightforward and cheerful story. Melatonin supplements can contain up to 347 percent of the melatonin they say they do, according to a 2023 research letter published. (Although melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone, most melatonin supplements are made by synthesizing pharmaceutical-grade chemicals.) And 26 percent of melatonin supplements contain significant doses of serotonin, which can cause agitation, increased heart rate and blood pressure, and nervous-system dysfunction. Consumers filed a class-action lawsuit last year claiming that a certain brand of adult melatonin supplements contain as much as 274 percent more melatonin than the stated amount, and Procter & Gamble is being sued for allegedly selling melatonin supplements that contain up to 163 percent more melatonin than users think they’re getting. A third lawsuit alleges that a brand of children’s melatonin gummies specifically contain more than twice the one-milligram amount listed on the label. Parents have been having concerns about kids’ sleep for an eternity. What’s changed, is that melatonin is being heavily marketed to parents as a quick fix. Momfluencers who are #toddlermoms and do a lot of #familytravel are often a proud kids melatonin gummies , crediting the company’s melatonin gummies for easier bedtimes and better-rested kiddos.
There is an approved medical usage for melatonin, and it’s to treat something called delayed sleep-phase syndrome. Children with this syndrome, for largely unknown reasons, fall asleep two or more hours later than a typical bedtime. In that situation, a sleep-medicine specialist might recommend giving .5 milligrams of melatonin four-to-five hours prior to bedtime. But parents rarely follow that advice. Instead, kids are given a gummy right before bed. Melatonin taken close to bedtime likely relies on the sedative effect of larger doses (over one milligram) versus the sunset effect of smaller ones. According to one study, .5 milligrams of instant-release melatonin works best when administered four-to-six hours before sleep initiation.
As melatonin gummies enter more homes and as children increasingly realize they taste almost identical to regular gummy candy, some kids are sneaking them by the fistful. The number of calls to poison-control centers for pediatric melatonin ingestions climbed 530 percent from 2012 to 2021, according to a 2022 CDC report. And a 2024 report from the CDC found that approximately 11,000 pediatric ER visits between 2019 and 2022, or 7 percent of the total, were for unsupervised melatonin ingestions. (Typically, kids are asymptomatic, though there have been recorded incidents of gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and CNS symptoms.) Melatonin overdoses have become so frequent that the Council for Responsible Nutrition, the leading trade association for the supplement industry, is now calling for manufacturers to start using child-deterrent packaging for flavored, chewable melatonin products. As a dietary supplement, melatonin is not FDA approved and doesn’t have to be in childproof packaging; CRN’s new guidelines are recommendations, not requirements.
While there’s no research to suggest that people can become physically dependent on melatonin, many kids and their parents have become convinced that sleep is elusive without it. They are, in a sense, psychologically dependent. Some child-care providers have become so reliant on the supplements they’ve broken the law in favor of no-struggle sleep. Experts worry about the behavioral and medical problems melatonin may be papering over. But teaching your kids how to fall asleep on their own is right up there with seat belts and covered outlets and introducing foods at the right time as one of the most important things parents can do.
Adapted from: The Cut
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