Melatonin has slipped into family bedtimes so quietly that most of us never stopped to ask what it actually is. I understand how it happened. At half past nine, with a child still wide awake and a school morning looming, anything that promises calm looks like common sense.
So let me say plainly where I stand. I don’t think melatonin should be handed to children freely, and I don’t think it belongs in a healthy child’s bedtime as a habit. It has its uses. A nightly gummy because bedtime has become a battle isn’t one of them.
Why I’m wary
Melatonin isn’t a sleeping pill. It’s a hormone the body makes for itself, the signal that tells us night has come. Giving it every night means setting a child’s body clock from the outside, often for years.
Yet it has become ordinary. In England, the number of children prescribed it has more than tripled in under a decade. In America it sits on the supermarket shelf in fruit flavours, no prescription needed.
What nobody has done is check it properly. One of the first careful studies of what it does to a child’s sleep has only just been published, and even the researchers reviewing it warn that it is no proof nightly use is harmless. Long-term research in healthy children barely exists. I’d want to know a great deal more before making it part of a child’s night.
When it makes sense
Jet lag is exactly what melatonin suits: a body clock knocked out of step for a few days. A short course after a long-haul flight, checked with your pharmacist or GP, seems sensible to me. So does a prescription for a child with a diagnosed sleep problem, reviewed regularly by their doctor.
What I’d try first
A child who can’t sleep usually has a reason: a routine that’s drifted, a screen too close to bedtime, a worry that hasn’t been said out loud. Melatonin fixes none of them.
In our house, the routine does the work: reading at half past six, lights out at seven, every night, as it has been since my two were babies. We still have bad nights. I’d always give a proper routine a fortnight before reaching for a bottle.
Before the Bottle
- Is there a reason? A new school, a worry, too much screen time. Start there.
- Has the routine had a fair chance? Two full weeks, same time, same order.
- A few nights or every night? A few nights after a long flight, with advice, is reasonable. Every night is one for the doctor.
- Who is reviewing it? If nobody, it’s time to ask.
Whatever you decide, keep the bottle out of small hands.
A Note from Mrs H
I’m not precious about a helping hand on a bad night, and I’d never judge a mother at the end of her tether. What I mind is how easily it became normal, with so few questions asked. A child who can’t settle is usually telling us something. It’s worth listening before we reach for the bottle.
— Mrs HWhere do you stand on melatonin? Has it found its way into bedtime in your house, or have you held the line?
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