Parents Now More Likely to Poison their Kids with Too Much Melatonin

Maura Myles

Experts Urge Parents to Keep Melatonin Out of Children’s Reach as Incidents Rise

If you sometimes use the sleep supplement, melatonin, it can be a big relief; but if you let children have it – or have access to it – that can be a big harm.

The number of children who are accidentally poisoned by the herbal sleep aid, melatonin, has increased by at least 530% in the last decade – more than five times as many overdoses as ten years ago.

Juvenile melatonin poisonings continue to spike: Last year, poison control centers in the United States received more than 52,000 calls about melatonin overdoses in children. It’s a sad new health record.

While most adults can tolerate high doses of melatonin (which is actually a hormone that helps control the body’s sleep cycle), children can experience breathing problems when they take too much of the supplement, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the past 10 years, two U.S. children have died from melatonin overdoses, while at least five have had to be put on machines to help them breathe, the agency reports.

And this may be one of the saddest parts of the story: Children, aged five and under, are most affected.

Dr. Karima Lelak, of the Children’s Hospital of Michigan, believes that the increasing stress levels, during the pandemic, has gotten more Americans reaching for melatonin; but warns that the sleep supplement comes with risks.

“It’s not just a gummy vitamin; it’s really a medication that has the potential to cause harm, and should be put way in the medicine cabinet,” Dr. Lelak explained.

This can result from kids getting a hold of the supplement, without their parents’ knowledge, says Dr. Lelak, who is an emergency physician. Or, parents may be giving their children too much of it.

There’s more to learn, here: (UPI)