SPOKANE, Wash. — More young people are overdosing on melatonin. The sleep aid is being used more in the U.S. and misused by kids getting their hands on it.
The CDC and families are worried because the over-the-counter drug has gone up 530 percent in pediatric use in the last decade. Last year alone, there were more than 50,000 calls in to poison control about health concerns.
The Academy of Pediatrics says any melatonin use in children should be directed by a pediatrician. One local physician says she’s conservative when recommending the supplement because it might not be what a child needs to sleep, and sometimes it can do more harm than good.
“People can buy it over the counter very readily,” said Dr. Jennifer Kalisvaart, a pediatrician at Spokane Pediatrics.
Melatonin is everywhere, and people are buying it. Sales in the U.S. have come up 150 percent between 2016 and 2020, but you shouldn’t just let your child use it without talking to their doctor. Even child-sized doses could be too much.
“Most of the commercially available melatonin, the doses can be significantly higher than what perhaps we would use in a child,” Dr. Kalisvaart said.
Heather Glen has a young daughter, and she’s only used melatonin with her a couple of times.
“I tried to avoid giving it to her just because at such a young age, I didn’t want her body to create a dependency on it and then have trouble falling asleep without it,” Glen said.
Dr. Kalisvaart says that’s the same reason why she’s also careful recommending it to children.
“All the melatonin in the world isn’t going to fix that habit that they’ve created and so trying to address that, rather than put the band aid on, with giving the child melatonin,” Kalisvaart said.
According to the CDC, pediatric hospitalizations and more serious outcomes have gone up mostly because kids are getting their hands on melatonin without parental permission.
“We run into the issue of it just being left on somebody’s nightstand, parents leave it out thinking it’s not a big issue, and then a child sees it, gets into it and then takes too much,” Kalisvaart said.
Think of melatonin like any other medicine and keep it out of reach from children.
“So much of it is more marketed as gummy vitamins now. You can get gummy melatonin. If I was a kid, I would want to eat a bunch of gummy stuff,” Glen said.
If your child is struggling to sleep, Dr. Kalisvaart says to make sure they’re being active and using up all their energy in the day. Avoid letting kids use electronics one to two hours before bed and don’t let them charge their phones next to their bed.
Melatonin can help regulate a sleep cycle, but it’s not something you should necessarily rely on forever.
READ: Melatonin poisoning cases soaring among U.S. kids
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