The woman in the TikTok video secretly mixes melatonin gummy bears into a bag of candy and gives it to her child. Next sequence: The child lies in his bed and sleeps well. These types of videos abound on social media.
With titles like “How to Get Your Child to Sleep in Under Five Minutes,” parents promote melatonin supplements as a miracle cure for kids who just won’t fall asleep. Pediatricians have now warned about this.
Melatonin even plays an essential role in falling asleep. The natural hormone is produced in the pineal gland in the human brain and is activated when it gets dark. “Everyone knows vitamin D, it is the hormone of the day,” explains pediatrician Ekkehart Paditz, member of the German Association for Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research (DGSM). “Melatonin is the antagonist, it is the hormone of the night.”
Also found in nutritional supplements
There are numerous over-the-counter dietary supplements containing melatonin available online and in drugstores, most of which are for adults. They promise fast sleep and an end to sleep disorders. They are available in the form of tablets, sprays, teas, drops and gummies.
Pediatrician Paditz does not recommend giving any of these products to your own children without first consulting a doctor. Until now, too little is known about the breakdown pathways of melatonin in infants and small children, the doctor says. What is certain is that their melatonin metabolism is slower. In addition, there are significant concentration fluctuations in the nutritional supplements tested in studies.
Multiple deaths of American babies
According to Paditz, there have been several deaths among small children in the US in recent years linked to sharply elevated melatonin levels. In an American study, researchers reported, among other things, a case in which parents regularly gave their three-month-old child between eight and ten doses of a high-dose melatonin product per day. It could not be definitively clarified whether an overdose of the hormone had led to the child’s death.
If children suffer from serious sleep disorders, parents should not rely on over-the-counter medications, Paditz says. “Parents are at significant risk of overlooking potentially serious illnesses.” A brain tumor can also cause sleep disorders. The pediatrician therefore advises: “Children belong to the pediatrician.”
The use of mobile phones often causes problems falling asleep
Melatonin can be prescribed by prescription to affected children and adolescents. The cause of the sleep disorder can be determined by visiting a doctor. “We see time and again that children and young people have trouble falling asleep because they use their mobile phones excessively or watch movies before falling asleep,” says Maske. “The problems usually disappear when parents follow the tips for introducing sleep hygiene.”
According to Paditz, this includes developing routines and winding down before bed. Finally, stress, worries and fears also play a role in falling asleep. Parents could give their children a soothing pat on the head in bed, read a book or sing a lullaby.
Source: Krone
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