HOUSTON — On Sunday, we'll be turning the clocks forward and losing an hour of sleep. It can be an adjustment, but parents, you should think twice before giving your kid melatonin.
New research shows 18.5 percent of children ages five to nine are being given melatonin. This is what parents should know about the sleep aid.
“It is a hormone, so whenever you're talking about giving kids hormones, you want to be especially careful, especially in kids who are pre-pubescent so not yet adolescents,” said Dr. Celine Gounder, CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for Public Health at KFF. “Secondly, melatonin is not FDA regulated, which means that the rigorous clinical trials that we need for drugs that are FDA approved just haven't been done for melatonin. I would really be cautious about using it in somebody who has not gone through puberty yet and use it, in teens, on a very occasional basis."
The American Academy of Pediatrics urges parents to discuss sleep issues with their child’s pediatrician before trying melatonin.