Over the past decade, poison control centers in the United States have witnessed a dramatic increase in reports from children who have taken melatonin.
According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, the number of incidents rose by 530 percent between 2012 and 2021. Reports increased by 38 percent between 2019 and 2020, which was the largest annual increase.
The hormone melatonin can regulate sleep. You can also buy it as a dietary supplement, in liquid, gummy or pill form. According to the CDC, melatonin sales increased by 150 percent in the United States between 2016 and 2020.
According to the agency, most poison control cases were caused by children who took melatonin supplements inadvertently. The agency said that less than 6 percent of ingestions were accidental, meaning that parents did not give melatonin to their children or that older children took too many.
The CDC report stated that this could be due to an increase in melatonin availability during the pandemic. Children spent more time at home as a result of school closings and stay-at-home orders. “There might also have been reports that the pandemic caused more sleep disturbances, which could have resulted in a greater availability of melatonin at home.”
An American survey found that insomnia was largely predicted by worries about Covid-19.
Over 260,000 children were reported to poison control centers for melatonin ingestion over a period of 10 years. The majority of children did not require hospitalization, but over 4,000 cases required hospitalization.
Five children were placed under ventilators. Two of the five children were 3 and 13 months old.
Dr. Kevin Osterhoudt is the medical director at Children’s Hospital Philadelphia’s Poison Control Center. He stated that “it’s wholly predictable” that more poisoning events will occur as drugs become more readily available and more accessible to homes.
According to Dr. George Wang (a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Children’s Hospital Colorado), melatonin gummies might be particularly appealing to young children.
Wang stated that many of the items are not in child-resistant packaging. There are no guidelines on how to package them. It is possible for a child to get in a large number of them.
Osterhoudt stated that his hospital has seen a “huge rise in melatonin intakes and melatonin exposures” so the CDC report “corroborates what we felt at the bedside.”
He said that most poison control center calls for melatonin-related issues were likely preventative, as 83 percent of the children in the study did not have symptoms. He said that symptoms can be mild even in hospitalized patients.
Sleepiness is common. Osterhoudt stated that restlessness and headaches are common. “We will get many people who say they have nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or upset stomachs.”
In more severe cases, however, children can fall into a coma or stop breathing.
Wang stated, “There’s where these deadly outcomes happen.”
Experts say that it usually takes a high dose of melatonin for these serious effects to occur.
Wang stated that even if you take double or triple doses, there won’t be any significant adverse effects. These more serious effects, including deaths, in these children who have been reported, I believe, were likely due to large ingestions.
He said that one of the victims had been a victim to “malicious use”, probably by someone trying to sedate children.
Osterhoudt stated that it is possible for severe cases to have other confounding factors, but that the report did not include this information.
The majority of reports from the CDC were for children aged 5 and under. 99 percent of cases took place at home. Experts believe that the increase in melatonin supplement use is likely due to more parents storing melatonin supplements where children can access them.
Osterhoudt stated that the curious years are from one year to four years. “That’s when children are able to walk, climb and go in places their parents didn’t allow them to. They find things, and they explore the world through what they eat.
Melatonin can be bought over-the-counter as it is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Osterhoudt stated that because of this lack of regulation, “oftentimes, the amount of melanin in products will be lower or higher than we think we’re getting.”
He also mentioned that there is a possibility that “other ingredients in the tablet or liquid that we take that we are not aware of and that aren’t disclosed on the package.”
This can make it hard to know how much melatonin a child actually has ingested.
It is still a matter of debate whether melatonin is effective for children and adults.
Osterhoudt stated that melatonin supplementation over a short time period can help with jetlag or sleep disorders. However, he said that it is possible to use melatonin for short-term treatment.
A 2018 study showed that melatonin improves sleep patterns in people aged 16 to 65 who have trouble falling asleep or waking up at normal times. A 2017 task force of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommended that melatonin not be used for adults suffering from insomnia.
A 2020 study showed that melatonin helps children fall asleep faster and stays asleep for longer periods of time. However, it does not decrease the number of wake-ups they experience in the night.
Wang stated that pediatricians often recommend behavioral changes such as reducing screen time before bed and sticking to regular bedtimes, rather than melatonin.
Parents who wish to give melatonin to their children should only take 0.5 to 1 mg 30 to 90 minutes before bedtime. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends this low dose of 0.5- to 1 milligrams. Experts still need more information.