For overtired parents who can’t seem to get their kids on a healthy
sleep schedule, the promise of a magic pill can be pretty enticing.

However, it seems that more and more doctors and parents are turning to melatonin as a Band-Aid for sleep issues for their children.

​​I get emails all the time from people telling me they are giving their babies melatonin to help them fall asleep at night, and I have serious concerns about this. 

​An article titled  Too many children being prescribed melatonin to aid sleep, experts warn ...  via www.theguardian.com - shares my concerns plus the concerns of even more medical experts. 
 
"After a surge in the number of children under 14 being admitted to hospital with sleep disorders over the last decade, specialists are concerned that it [melatonin] is being given to children “off label” – with little knowledge of the long-term safety or side-effects."
 
Dr. Neil Stanley, an independent sleep expert and former director of sleep research at the University of Surrey.  "Unless a child has a diagnosed condition such as autism that has been scientifically proven to be helped by melatonin, there is no medical rationale for a child to be given it,” he said. “Most paediatricians know little about sleep or melatonin. For non-autistic children, it is a fashionable treatment for parents wanting ‘perfect' children.”
 
"Dr Liz Bragg of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: “I don’t want to criticise fellow practitioners by saying it is being overprescribed, but I wouldn’t like to prescribe it unless work has been done to make sure the right sleep advice has been given and ... the right bedtime routine to wind down to sleep is put in place."-Sarah Marsh; TheGuardian.com.

​
Well, I don't agree that "parents (are) wanting perfect children"; I do think many parents and pediatricians are looking for solutions when things get desperate with their little ones lack of sleep. 
 
Being sleep deprived as a child or as a parent is not an easy thing to cope with. When you have a baby that doesn't sleep for more than a couple of hours at a time (if you're lucky), or a toddler/preschooler that takes hours to get to sleep, only to have them wake up in a few hours and you have to start all over again; it's exhausting, to say the least. Not only are parents dealing with the mental and physical consequences of sleep deprivation; but the situation can cause a lot of anger and frustration, even resentment towards your child.
​ 
However, here's the deal: 
 
Melatonin is a hormone that is naturally secreted by your brain and is present in every person’s body. Taking synthetic Melatonin is NOT a long-term solution to poor sleep habits. 
 
Healthy sleep habits need to be taught at a young age to set kids up for a lifetime of healthy sleep habits.
 
As Dana Obleman says SleepSense Magazine; ".. giving {Melatonin} to kids who aren't sleeping well is the equivalent to giving Tylenol to someone who has a broken leg. You may alleviate the symptoms, but you're NOT fixing the problem."
 
“Bad sleeping habits.. won't just go away with time." While some studies have shown that melatonin can be helpful with children with autism or children with ADHD, most babies and children do not need melatonin; they need to be given the opportunities to develop their sleep strategies and develop good sleep hygiene.

Here's why:

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 Tell me if this scenario sounds familiar…

Your baby wakes up in the morning after a solid night’s sleep. You feed her, change her, play with her for a little bit, take her for a little walk outside, then rock her to sleep and put her gently into her crib for her morning nap.

And then, 30 minutes later, she wakes up fussy and irritable and, despite your pleading, bargaining, and offers of riches, refuses to go back to sleep.

So, after half an hour of trying to put her back down, you finally give in, hoping she’ll be that much more tired when her afternoon nap rolls around, only to have the exact same scenario play out again, and baby is a cranky ball of unhappiness for the rest of the day.

Sleep, like food, is one of those elements where baby has the final say on whether or not they’re going to cooperate, so there’s no sense trying to force the issue. If they’re not sleeping, just leaving them in their room usually won’t fix things.

So, here’s what’s going on, and how to fix it.

If you’re like most parents, you probably can’t take more than a couple of steps in your house without tripping over a doll, a stuffed animal or a Tonka truck. You are most likely more than familiar with the sensation of getting those hard, tiny Lego pieces embedded in the bottom of your bare foot or having to spend ten minutes scooping your child’s dripping army of rubber duckies and plastic fish out of the bathtub after he’s had his bath every night.
 
I often think toy companies must sit around brainstorming all the different places they should convince parents they need to stockpile toys in order to entertain their kids: the car, the living room, the bathtub and the crib, just to name a few.

A lot of parents who use soothers feel a twinge of guilt the first time they stick a pacifier in their baby’s mouth. However, dealing with a screaming infant in the grocery line or on a long car trip will make most parents try just about anything they can think of to calm the child down!
 
The truth is, it often works. Babies are born with the instinct to suck. They have limited means of expressing what they want and can’t let you know if they’re hungry, thirsty or in pain. Sucking soothes them and brings them comfort, which is why a baby will suck on just about anything you put in its mouth, whether it’s a bottle, breast, finger or toy.
 
But at a certain age, kids are more than capable of learning to self-soothe, and pacifier dependence can cause long-term problems. Many experts agree that soother use up until about age one is okay. Anything past age two and there are some worrying issues.