insomnia
insomnia is dreadful. and children can compound that for their parents when the children themselves can’t sleep. i’ve experienced both. as a young adult before having kids, i had insomnia from??? anxiety, stress, i never did figure it out. as a mother with a sleepless infant (and still somewhat sleepless pre-teen), my insomnia disappeared (presumably due to sheer exhaustion). but when i could finally sleep, my baby couldn’t. he didn’t even nap for his caregivers at day care. i was absolutely desperate and tried everything…that is everything BUT melatonin.
considerations BEFORE deciding whether to give your child melatonin
supplements are unregulated making it hard to know if they are what they say they are. one of the main reasons i am, generally, reluctant to use ANY supplements is that they are largely unregulated. that being the case, the label can say “melatonin” but the pills in the bottle can contain nothing resembling melatonin. they could contain anything from relatively harmless sugar; to relatively dangerous prescription-only benzodiazepenes (BZD) or BZD-like imposters; to contaminants resulting from a lack of proper manufacturing controls. and it’s only in the more dangerous scenarios and only when those cases HAPPEN to be discovered, that these supplements are recalled.
making medicines palatable to children is a double-edged sword. on one hand, they are more likely to take good tasting medicine (a blessing for any parent who has tried to give their child Augmentin® or any child who has to take it). on the other hand, children love sweets and will seek (and sneek) them. this is part of what underlies the recent sharp increase in ER visits attributable to melatonin overdoses in children.
considerations if you decide to give your child melatonin
only buy USP-verified supplements. i do use some supplements. personally, i need vitamins D and B -12. so when i purchase supplements, i look for the letters “USP” on the label. these stand for United States Pharmacopeia, an entity that establishes reference standards for drug entities. USP operates a voluntary certification program; most manufacturers do NOT participate in this certification (because it’s an additional cost). supplements that are USP-verified contain the stated ingredients in the stated amounts reflected on the label. ONLY Nature Made and Natrol market USP-verified melatonin products as per the USP-verified product finder. ergo (that’s an oldie but seemed fitting), if you purchase melatonin, only purchase these.
keep medicines away from children. out of sight, out of reach, preferably locked up. supplements often do NOT come with child-resistant caps or packaging. with the penchant my child has for treats, i can almost guarantee he would’ve helped himself to any tasty gummies i made relatively accessible in my home. fortunately, i don’t like gummies and my husband doesn’t like sweets, so our risk in that area is low. if you do use melatonin gummies to help your child sleep, take some simple precautions to make sure you and your child don’t end up in the ER, a night that will surely be filled with no sleep!
be informed, keep safe <3!