What Sleep Experts Say About Kids and Melatonin

Every night, millions of kids across the United States have trouble falling asleep. Screens, stress, and busy schedules are keeping children awake later and later. To help, more and more parents are turning to a supplement called melatonin. But sleep experts say parents should understand what melatonin really is — and what scientists still don't know about it — before giving it to their kids.

Melatonin is a hormone, which means it is a chemical that the body makes naturally. Every night, a small part of the brain called the pineal gland releases melatonin to help the body feel sleepy. When people take melatonin as a pill or gummy, it can make them feel tired in the same way. That is why so many families see it as an easy fix for bedtime struggles.

Michael Schulson is a writer and editor at a science magazine called Undark. He spent time researching why melatonin use has grown so much, especially among children. He says the rise of melatonin supplements really picked up in the 1990s, when the U.S. government made it easier to sell supplements without strict rules. At first, most melatonin products warned that they were not for children — but over the years, that changed.

By the late 2000s, some news reports described parents using melatonin for kids. Today, doctors say they are seeing more children using melatonin than ever before. Many of the products come in bright packaging, fun flavors, and chewy gummy shapes that appeal to families with young children. Schulson says the products are clearly being marketed to parents who are desperate for a bedtime solution.

One important point Schulson makes is that melatonin is not a vitamin — it is a hormone. In many countries around the world, melatonin is actually sold as a prescription drug, meaning you need a doctor's approval to get it. In the United States, it is sold as a supplement, which means fewer rules apply to it. Schulson says this can confuse people into thinking melatonin is totally harmless, when it is actually acting on the body the way a drug would.

So what does the science say? Researchers have found that melatonin can help children fall asleep about 20 minutes earlier on average. Many parents say they have seen it work, and that tracks with the research. However, scientists are less sure whether kids who take melatonin actually feel more rested the next day, and studies on that question are still very limited.

When it comes to safety, experts say the short-term side effects of melatonin tend to be mild. But some researchers worry that those short-term studies have not been careful enough to catch every problem. The bigger concern is about long-term use — what happens to kids who take melatonin several nights a week, for months or even years? Right now, scientists simply do not have a good answer to that question.

Melatonin is considered more acceptable for children who have certain developmental conditions, such as autism or some forms of ADHD. These children can have serious trouble sleeping, and the risks of not sleeping well are also very real. For those kids, doctors may agree that using melatonin regularly makes sense. The concern is more about healthy children taking melatonin every night without any guidance from a doctor.

Schulson is careful to say he is not telling parents to stop using melatonin — he just wants families to understand the full picture. Sleep experts suggest that building good bedtime routines, like turning off screens before bed and keeping a regular sleep schedule, can help many children sleep better. Even Schulson admits, as a parent himself, that these tips do not always make bedtime easy. But talking to a doctor before starting melatonin is a step most experts strongly recommend.