Can Melatonin Help Kids Fall Asleep?
If your child is struggling to fall asleep at night or get sufficient sleep, melatonin supplements are a possible short-term strategy for helping them achieve quality sleep. Research on the use of melatonin in children is limited. However, studies of select groups of children provide promising evidence of melatonin’s effectiveness in initiating sleep.
Melatonin and Children With ADHD
As many as 70% of children with ADHD6 experience sleep problems. They frequently experience excessive daytime sleepiness caused by initial insomnia, or difficulty falling asleep at night.
Studies show that children with ADHD who take melatonin experience improved sleep. One study found a reduction in insomnia, leading to children falling asleep an average of 16 minutes earlier
When Should It Be Taken?
Timing is key to dosing melatonin. It needs to be taken one to four hours before the expected time for sleep, gently signaling the brain it is nighttime. Melatonin helps set the “circadian clock”, but taken at other times in the day or too late at night (out of cycle), melatonin has little or no effect at all.
Is Melatonin Safe for Kids?
Most studies show that short-term melatonin use is safe for kids with little to no side effects.
However, some children may experience symptoms such as nausea, headaches, bed wetting, excessive sweating, dizziness, morning grogginess, stomach pains and more
Currently, health professionals are unsure about the long-term side effects of melatonin, as little research has been done in that regard. Therefore, many doctors are wary to recommend melatonin for sleep issues in children.
Additionally, melatonin supplements are not approved for use in children by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Until long-term studies have been conducted, it’s impossible to say if melatonin is entirely safe for children
If your child struggles to fall asleep or stay asleep, it’s best to see your doctor.
Dosages for children
There is no established safe melatonin dosage for children.
It is important to note that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)Trusted Source recognize melatonin as a supplement rather than a drug. As a result, melatonin does not undergo the testing and safety regulations of a medication. This means that the labeling of melatonin products may not really reflect the contents.
However, a 2017 study Trusted Source of 31 melatonin supplements found that most did contain the amounts advertised on their labels.
Overall, the best approach is to speak with a doctor before giving melatonin to a child. They can also advise about the best dosages.
The research into effective dosages of melatonin is limited. A review Trusted Source published in 2016 confirmed that there are still no clear guidelines and that various studies recommend different amounts.
It may be best to start with the lowest dosage, as many children seem to respond to doses in the 0.5–1.0 milligram (mg) range.
If this is ineffective, it may be safe to raise the dosage. The recommend the following dosages by age:
- 1 mg of melatonin for infants
- 2.5–3.0 mg for older children
- 5 mg for teenagers
- a dosage that falls within a range of 0.5–10.0 mg for children with special needs
They also recommend giving the melatonin 30–60 minutes before bedtime.
Some other products, such as relaxation tinctures or cough medicines, may contain melatonin, so be sure to check labels of any other treatments or remedies before also administering melatonin.
Outside of the U.S., many countries classify melatonin as a drug, and it is only available by prescription.
References
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/melatonin-for-kids https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/melatonin-for-kids#top-options https://www.sleepfoundation.org/melatonin/melatonin-for-children
