Health Professionals Say Parents Shouldn’t Give Their Kids Melatonin Unless Prescribed By A Doctor; Says ‘Encourage Children To Develop Good Sleeping Habits’

Doctors say you shouldn’t be giving your children melatonin unless a physician prescribes it.

Parents’ use of melatonin for their children has been discussed a lot online and there’s been a torn conversation between those who use it to help their children fall asleep versus those who believe parents and childcare providers are abusing the medication. Well, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) says you should check with a doctor first before giving your child the hormone.

“While melatonin can be useful in treating certain sleep-wake disorders, like jet lag, there is much less evidence it can help healthy children or adults fall asleep faster,” shared Dr. M. Adeel Rishi, vice chair of the AASM Public Safety Committee and a pulmonology, sleep medicine and critical care specialist at Indiana University Health Physicians, in a press release, Fox News reports.

“Instead of turning to melatonin, parents should work on encouraging their children to develop good sleep habits,” he went on. Some of those habits, he says, include “setting a regular bedtime and wake time, having a bedtime routine and limiting screen time as bedtime approaches.”

The specialists went on to say there is very little evidence that melatonin helps treat insomnia in healthy children. They added that melatonin is regulated by the FDA, which labels the hormone as a “dietary supplement.”