Is Melatonin Use for Babies Safe?

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:

Sleep is food for our brain, and when we don't feed it correctly, it gets malnourished so to speak and doesn't work the way we would like or expect sometimes.
 
It can turn into a vicious cycle of tug a war between doing whatever you can to meet your child's sleep needs and your frustration with your seeming inability to get him/her the sleep they need so you can also meet your own sleep needs.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, no other hormone is available in the United States without a prescription. Because melatonin is contained naturally in some foods, the U.S. Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 allows it to be sold as a dietary supplement.
 
These do not need to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or controlled in the same way as drugs.
 
This is pretty scary if you ask me; it gives us parents a false sense of security about the whole thing.
 
Dr. Judith Owens, director of the Sleep Center at Boston Children's Hospital, advises "There is good scientific evidence melatonin can shorten the time to fall asleep in children with insomnia, including children with ADHD, autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders. But, there is much less evidence melatonin helps children stay asleep, even in its extended-release forms."
 
"Before considering melatonin, have your pediatrician conduct a thorough evaluation for other potential causes... Many sleep problems are much better addressed with behavioral measures or other kinds of interventions ... Melatonin should never substitute for healthy sleep practices: a regular, age-appropriate and consistent bedtime and bedtime routine, no caffeine and no electronics/screens before bedtime."
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According to the National Institutes of Health, Melatonin should NOT be used in most children. It is possibly unsafe. Because of its effects on other hormones, melatonin might interfere with development.
 
Dr. Johnson-Arbor, a Hartford Hospital toxicologist, says, (melatonin) is possibly thought to affect growth, and to affect sexual development and puberty. Other side-effects can include headaches, drowsiness and stomach ache. 

I hear parents say all the time that they have "tried everything else and nothing works"! So yes, I can absolutely say that I understand parents desire for "something to work, for something to HELP" them all get some much-needed sleep. 
 
However, there's no need to put your kids at risk to get them down for the night.
 
The straight forward truth is, children need to be taught to have perfect nights sleep, and it's up to us to show them how.
 
If you are struggling with:

•     Giving your child the opportunity to learn their sleep strategies.
•     If you can’t seem to get them on the right schedule
•     If you are dealing with epic bedtime battles,
•     If you can't seem to get your little one to sleep through the night;

I urge you to speak to a Certified Sleep Consultant regarding your child's difficulty with sleep before you reach for that bottle of melatonin.
 
Even if you feel you have tried everything (which I hear a lot), there is still a pretty darn good chance that a Qualified Sleep Consultant will be able to help you and your family get that much-needed sleep that you are all desperately needing.

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About the Author

​Erin Neri is a Certified Pediatric Sleep Consultant who works with families with children from newborn to 8 years old providing customized sleep solutions that teach parents how to give their child the opportunities that are needed to develop their own independent sleep strategies and skills so they can sleep independently through the night and nap like champs.
Understanding that there is no one size fits all approach to raising kids Erin brings a unique combination of skills to your family’s sleep.
Combining her BA in Psychology and Infant Mental Health Training with The Sleep Sense™ Program Erin is able to create a customized sleep solution for your family that allows parent and child to go from exhaustion to thriving in content, happy and rested households. ​
For more than 16 years The Sleep Sense™ Method has empowered more than 57,000 parents to enhance their children’s sleep.
Through her personal experience with terrible sleepers, Postpartum Depression and Postpartum Anxiety, plus her education and training Erin has a unique ability to support mom’s where they are at emotionally within the sleep training process.
Gone are the days of mom and dad's walking through early childhood days like a sleep-deprived zombie.  Erin's approach to helping kids learn their own independent sleep strategies is one of the most significant advancements in the way we lovingly raise our kids today.
To learn more about how Erin partners with parents visit To The Moon and Back Sleep Consulting’s About Page.