Many parents give their children melatonin at night. Here's why you may not want to.

Few desires are more universal than wanting to get more and better sleep. According to a survey of more than 11,000 people across the globe, over 80% of respondents said they wished for more sleep. Conversely, just 10% claimed they slept enough. 

Though these results apply to people's own sleep experiences, other research indicates that parents are also interested in improving their children's sleep quality. For help, some moms and dads turn to books, sleep coaches, and various bedtime routine recommendations. Some parents even use over-the-counter sleep aids. In fact, another survey shows that nearly half of parents who have children struggling with sleeping at night have administered the supplement melatonin. 

What is melatonin?

Melatonin is a chemical or hormone that our bodies produce to help promote sleep. But when people talk about "taking" melatonin, they are referring to its synthetic supplement version - which comes in powder, pill, gummy or liquid form. 

As a sleep aid, melatonin has been growing steadily in popularity because it mimics what melatonin does naturally in the body: promoting feelings of sleepiness by affecting the body's natural 24-hour internal clock schedule known as circadian rhythms, per the NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.

Though most of our bodies naturally produce enough melatonin to get adequate sleep each night, some people find the short-term use of melatonin to be helpful under certain circumstances. 

Is melatonin safe?

In adults, for instance, melatonin supplements are sometimes taken to improve a broken sleep cycle, to move up one's bedtime after previously forming a habit of getting to bed too late, or to help navigate time changes when traveling. The supplement is also sometimes recommended as a way of treating insomnia or other sleep disorders. 

While it's generally considered safe for adults to take for short periods of time, it's important to remember that melatonin supplements are not regulated in the United States the same way food and drugs are, says Jennifer Martin, a psychologist and professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Because of this, ingredients used in melatonin supplements can vary widely and dosing recommendations can be inconsistent. Martin adds that "data on safety is also limited," and that it's unwise to assume that any supplement or sleep aid is "automatically safe" just because it's available at a local pharmacy or retailer. 

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There are also side effects that can occur from taking melatonin too often, she explains. These include a risk of dependency, feelings of irritability or restlessness, headache, upset stomach, a dry mouth, or becoming sleepy during the day.

Is it OK to give a child melatonin?

In order to avoid adverse effects like these, parents should especially exercise caution when giving young children melatonin. While it's considered safe to give to some kids under doctor-recommended circumstances, "we have limited information about potential long-term effects in children and we have limited data on use in typically developing children and no information about safety in children 2 and under," says Dr. Judith Owens, a board-certified sleep medicine physician and the director of the Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders at Boston Children’s Hospital.

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Because of this, she recommends for melatonin to "only be given to children under medical supervision and when combined with a behavioral plan." For example, doctors sometimes recommend melatonin because it has been studied specifically in use for children with neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, ADHD and epilepsy. 

In typically developing children, however, melatonin is recommended less frequently and it "should not be used as a first-line sleep aid," cautions Dr. Ilene Rosen, a sleep medicine physician and associate professor of medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Instead, Rosen advocates practicing proven bedtime routine behaviors, leaning into the body's natural sleep cycle by adhering to the same bedtime each night, and for children and adults to avoid "bright lights and electronics in the bedroom in order to allow the body’s natural production of melatonin to take effect and promote sleep."