Melatonin use soaring in kids and teens, researchers find

Melatonin is getting pretty popular–like, really popular. In fact, almost 1 in every 5 school-aged children and preteens—even preschoolers—are taking it for sleep. But the fact that melatonin use is rising in kids is worrying researchers. 

A survey study in JAMA Pediatrics highlights the concerns about taking the hormone to help kids get to sleep and sleep well. The researchers surveyed people on melatonin use in 993 children between the ages of 1 and 13 years old. 

During 2017 to 2018, just 1.3% of US parents reported that their children used melatonin. But the 2023 study found that the number of kids who used melatonin for sleep in the past 30 days was significantly higher: 18.5% of school-aged children, 19.4% of preteens and even 6% of preschoolers all used melatonin in the previous month. 

Preschoolers who took melatonin had been taking it for a median length of a year, while grade-school kids and preteens took it for median lengths of 18 and 21 months, respectively.

The older the child, the greater the dosage; preschoolers took anywhere from 0.25 to 2 milligrams and preteens took up to 10 milligrams.

There’s not much safety and efficacy data around melatonin, and the supplements aren’t fully regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration. (There have also been concerns about the amount of the hormone in the supplements differing from what’s on the label.) A 2022 study from the CDC found that melatonin overdoses in children have greatly increased during the last 10 years—with the largest spike in overdoses occurring during the pandemic. 

“We hope this paper raises awareness for parents and clinicians, and sounds the alarm for the scientific community,” Lauren Hartstein, PhD, lead author and a postdoctoral fellow in the Sleep and Development Lab at CU Boulder, said in a statement. “We are not saying that melatonin is necessarily harmful to children. But much more research needs to be done before we can state with confidence that it is safe for kids to be taking long-term.”

Our bodies naturally produce melatonin—it helps tell you when it’s time for sleep, and it regulates your circadian rhythm. Melatonin is a widely available over-the-counter sleep aid for adults and children. It often comes in gummy vitamin form for kids and is a common staple in many family households. 

In other countries, melatonin is classified as a drug that people can only get via prescription.

“All of a sudden, in 2022, we started noticing a lot of parents telling us that their healthy child was regularly taking melatonin,” said Dr. Hartstein, who researches sleep.  

Julie Boergers, PhD, a coauthor as well as a psychologist and pediatric sleep specialist at Rhode Island Hospital and the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, said that when used under the supervision of a health care provider, melatonin can be a useful short-term aid, particularly in youth with autism or severe sleep problems.

“But it is almost never a first-line treatment,” she said, noting that she often recommends that families look to behavioral changes first and use melatonin only temporarily. “Although it’s typically well-tolerated, whenever we’re using any kind of medication or supplement in a young, developing body we want to exercise caution.”