Makers of melatonin supplements have 18 to 24 months to voluntarily add child-deterrent packaging and improve cautionary language on labels of over-the-counter products, according to the Council for Responsible Nutrition, the leading trade association for the dietary supplement and functional food industry.
Melatonin is a hormone produced by the brain in response to darkness. It regulates the body’s natural sleep-wake cycle or circadian rhythm. As a dietary supplement, melatonin is not regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration, yet the demand for melatonin among both adults and children has skyrocketed over the last decade, according to experts.
The council’s action follows recent reports of a massive rise in accidental ingestions of melatonin by children and an April 2023 study that found 25 products labeled as melatonin gummies contained dangerous levels of the hormone. One over-the-counter product contained up to 347% more melatonin than listed on the label, while another contained no melatonin at all — it was entirely composed of cannabidiol or CBD.
My local radio station played a lot of ads for Z-quil for kids last year. I’ve stopped trying to rely on sleeping aids this past year, but i can only imagine a whole generation brought up using melatonin, white noise machines, or youtube sleeping videos are going to have massive problems getting a normal night’s sleep.
I’m fine with white noise, but melatonin is only for nights I can’t get to sleep normally. Maybe once every other month. And never for my kid. He’s gotta learn how to sleep without it so he knows when he needs it. Also he’s only 1.5.
I was out camping a couple years ago and a young couple set yp in the lot next to us. It sounded like they were running an air compressor all day, but it turned out they had white noise machine pumping full blast to keep their toddler asleep, otherwise he would be cranky and screaming. On the same trip, one of my friends drained our only portable battery to power his white noise machine while a light thunderstorm was going on. Even i have had trouble sleeping without a youtube playlist in the background for the past 6 years. We have a serious epidemic of sleep issues.
It’s funny camping is being brought up. If I’m camping more than two nights, my sleep schedule is at its healthiest. After a day of sunshine and activity, I’m usually ready for bed an hour or two after dark and up with the sun.
I think the issue is technology, scrolling on our phones right up until bedtime.
"Administration of daily doses of up to 300 mg of melatonin without causing clinically significant adverse reactions have been reported in the literature.
If overdose occurs, drowsiness is to be expected. Clearance of the active substance is expected within 12 hours after ingestion. No special treatment is required."
https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/product-information/circadin-epar-product-information_en.pdf
Maybe parents should be educated about the fact that it isn’t dangerous in overdose? To stop pointless ER visits?
I knew this fact specifically because my doctor researched it in front of me when I asked about taking melatonin. I was angrily scouring the article for some mention of what’s dangerous here.
As best I can tell, there’s no real effective overdose of melatonin. If you get too much, you end up not using it.
The 300 mg dosing was adults, and they specifically said above it hadn’t been tested in persons under 18. Little kids metabolize things differently. And most of the overdoses are gummies, so we’re talking about coming in and potentially finding your greedy little goober has eaten your entire jar of 60 CVS gummies at 10 mg apiece. Trying to get them to puke while they’re so sleepy could cause aspiration, and they’re going to need monitoring to be sure they don’t stop breathing, so it’s off to the ER. And with the observation of widespread inaccurate dosing/labeling, the amount and type of drug ingested can only be guessed at.
Requiring a child guard cap and warning that effects in children have not been studied doesn’t seem unreasonable. And quality control tests to ensure you’re getting what you expect.
Or you call your country’s poision control hotline.
As my wife the pediatrician often repeats when it comes to medicine: “children are not just little adults.”
I use melatonin to help me sleep. It is just a small dose of 1mg. I find it helps and works better than anything else I have tried over the years.
