You may be wondering if melatonin pills are safe for children because they're natural hormones.
Insomnia, also called bedtime resistance or sleep onset, is an illness that affects children who don't fall asleep easily at night.
Melatonin can either make your children suffer or sleep for long periods.
What Is Melatonin?
Melatonin is an internal hormone produced by our bodies for the sole purpose of making us sleepy before we go to bed. Contrary to popular belief, children actually tend to have more interruptive sleep than adults.
When your kid asks for one more glass of water or another story, it usually seems nice rather than something bad.
Your child cannot sleep because he or she has an imbalanced circadian rhythm due to the lack of melatonin in the body.
You need to consider whether melatonin makes your child sleep.
Melatonin pills are known as the hormone of darkness. By regulating or helping the triggers that cause melatonin production in children’s bodies, you can help them establish a healthy circadian cycle, eliminate tiredness, and improve their focus.
Should You Give Melatonin to Your Kids?
According to a recent study at Stanford University, about 15%- 20 percent of kids experience severe melatonin deficiency, unlike popular beliefs. Over-the-counter medications are often prescribed by doctors to help children fall asleep faster.
Parents of children who suffer from these sleeping disorders often attempt countless methods to maintain good sleep habits, but fail to realize that they may be deficient in melatonin.
Here are some reasons why melatonin supplements can help improve your child’s sleep.
Melatonin is Also Made by the Brain, Making it Uber-Safe
- Melatonin is safe because it is a natural hormone. Unlike synthetic drugs, melatonin is not chemically altered. Feeding your child with melatonin is similar to giving them melatonin foods like pineapple, oats, or bananas before going to bed.
- If your children ignore the natural signals of their body’s need for sleep, they begin to experience mood swings, irritability, and disoriented. The trick is to give your child melatonin when he/she really needs it rather than giving him/her too much. By giving melatonin supplements for a week, you create a natural trigger of melatonin production at sleep time according to your kid’s internal circadian rhythm.
Faster Sleep
- If your child has trouble sleeping at night, they may suffer from excessive daytime sleepiness, fatigue, and lack of concentration skills later in life. A daily dose of melatonin can be helpful for children who need a consistent bedtime routine.
- If you cannot provide good sleeping habits or limit the use of screens before bed, then you must choose melatonin pills to help your body feel sleepy at night.
Increase in the Duration of Sleep
- Melatonin supplements help people who suffer from chronic sleep disorders by helping them fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. They also heal the internal circadian rhythm of children and increase their sleep duration. The ideal time to get your children ready for sleep is 30 minutes after their bodies start producing melatonin.
- Studies show that giving children melatonin at a regular time of day helps them regulate their own internal clock. Eventually, they will start producing melatonin naturally at this time every day.
When Nothing Else Works
- Improper sleep hygiene often causes sleep cycle disorders in kids. If parents cannot control the length, frequency, and quality of their child’s sleep, they may resort to using drugs like melatonin to help them get some rest.
- If all your attempts at parenting haven't worked, then melatonin may be able to give you some confidence that your child will fall asleep and start a healthy sleep cycle from the beginning. This is especially relevant for parents who have children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), or other medical conditions that cause sleep disorders.
Melatonin supplements help children adjust their sleep cycles by changing their internal clock but the prolonged usage of melatonin pills as a sleep aid for your kid is not safe.
Caution: Melatonin Risks for Kids
Melatonin is made by the brain cells for signaling the different parts of the human system to sleep. Melatonin supplements shouldn't be given to children because their bodies are already capable of producing them. By saturating the melatonin count in your child, you may end up disrupting his/her natural sleep patterns.
It has been seen even by the most experienced doctors as the natural wonder for sleeping, but are melatonin pills really good since nowadays they are being used everywhere. Continuous use of melatonin can cause your child to become ill instead of helping them to go back to their normal sleep cycles.
However, as it’s a new supplement in the market with no official certification, there is no evidence either how great or terrible it could be!
There are several reasons why you shouldn't give melatonin supplements to children.
Melatonin is Not a Medicine
- Melatonin tablets are not actually regulated by the FDA, so they're not considered medicines. It is still considered a dietary product, so there are no pharmaceutical tests done on it to determine if it is safe for medicinal use.
- Melatonin may or may not be unsuitable for the developing minds of children, depending on their melatonin levels. You may decide whether you'd rather let your children be guinea pigs of melatonin pills side effects or use them to help their sleep patterns.
If Your Child Cannot Achieve Deep Sleep
- One more reason to give melatonin supplements to your children is if they have trouble having sound sleep. If your child doesn't get enough deep sleep, he or she may wake up at night and suffer from several nights of sleeplessness due to this reason.
- Melatonin is the hormone that tells your body when it’s time for bedtime. It doesn't ensure that you'll get good quality sleep at night. Without it, you may experience daytime drowsiness, excessive daytime fatigue, and poor concentration.
Childhood Addiction
- Another serious disadvantage of prolonged melatonin usage in children is the serious disruption in their sleep cycles resulting from high dosage every day. It’s important to note that this a psychological addiction based on the unnatural craving that your child's mind feels when it has too much melatonin, making his or her brain feel like the daytime, resulting in them feeling that he or she has “finished sleeping for the night.”
- Melatonin use isn't necessarily bad for children; however, if you don't change their melatonin schedule, they're likely to become addicted to melatonin.
Long-term Effects are Still Under Observation
- Melatonin for sleeping is still under the microscope and there has been little proof of how melatonin affects the actual phases of your child's sleeping cycle. Any negative effects that haven't been observed so far could also occur in your child's case.
- Parents don't want their children to experience any negative side effects of taking melatonin. Most studies last between 2 to 4 yrs, without evidence proving the positive effects of melatonin pills, either practically or empirically.
Side-Effects of Melatonin
Melatonin side effects are numerous because most parents don't realize just how much melatonin is available in their bodies to supplement it. Its overdose tells brains they need to sleep more. Melatonin has been recommended for use up to a maximum dose of 20 mg per dosage. Various brands offer varying amounts of melatonin at doses between 0.2 mg and 20 mg.
If you're overdosing on melatonin, you could experience severe side effects including dizziness, low blood pressure, nausea, skin rashes, seizures, liver damage, and strange dreams. If you've had too much melatonine, you should seek medical assistance immediately.
Developmental Problems in the Child
Melatonin is not really a vitamin or nutrient in tablet form, but rather a hormone that our brains produce when we need to shut down for sleep. According to NIH, the overproduction of melatonin in the body can cause developmental issues in children. Melatonin being a natural hormone, melatonin pills interact with other hormones in our bodies, causing more confusion, if not benefits.
Melatonin has been shown to prevent pregnancy and thus reports suggest that it may affect the reproductive system of your baby. It can delay puberty, cause liver damage, and impair your child's ability to concentrate or remember things.
What is The Right Way To Give Melatonin to Your Child?
According to the researchers' findings, the only right way for parents to administer melatonin to their children is through creating healthy sleep hygiene and cycles. To prevent any chances of overdosing, take your kid to a sleep clinic and see if he or she has low levels of melatonin.
There are natural methods for helping your child naturally produce melatonin. One way is to limit the light exposure to their eyes.
Before going to sleep, screen off and light off times should be defined as a strict time period when no screens are allowed.
To help your child fall asleep at night, be strict to avoid any sources of light (TV, computer, phone) so that your baby’s body starts producing melatonin and signals the brain that it is time to sleep. Also, make sure that there aren't any TVs or computers in the bedroom.
If your child has trouble adhering to any of these tips for good sleeping habits, then the next step would be to fix the problem in their circadian rhythm. Melatonin is the best choice for this repair, there’s no harm in taking a small dose alongside sleep hygiene for up to seven days.
- 1. Ozzzz’s Sleep Aid for Children: A combination of 0.5 mg melatonin plus 2 ml chamomile tea for a fruity flavour designed to help calm your children down before bedtime.
- 2. Mel O Chew: 1 mg of this is the borderline ideal dose, it simply states that children should take less.
- 3.Tired Teddies: A perfect combination of melatonin, lemon balm, and chamomile tea for a relaxing sleep for your child with an ideal dose of 0.3 mg.
A perfect combination of melatonin, lemon balm, and chamomile tea for a relaxing sleep for your child with an ideal dose of 0.3 mg.Before using any chemicals on your children, consult your pediatrician first!
It's always best to get a melatonin deficiency checked out before giving any melatonin supplements to children for more than 7 days.
When melatonin is administered, take steps to ensure that your children get enough restful hours. Encourage them to follow good sleeping habits.
Sleep hygiene is important for both your physical health and mental well-being.
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