My kids have jet lag. Can I give them melatonin to facilitate them sleep?

Dealing with time zone changes and jet lag can eat into the time we have to enjoy our vacations, or make adjusting to life at home even more challenging. It can be even harder for kids—and when kids don’t sleep well, parents don’t sleep well either.

Around one in four children Already have a problem falling asleep or going back to sleep after waking up during the night. This may be worse with international travel.

To facilitate children with general sleep problems, Some parents started giving their children lollipops or jelly candies containing melatonin. Some parents also have turned to melatonin to facilitate your child fall asleep in a novel time zone or when returning home.

Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone secreted in our brains. Its the main objective is to maintain our sleep-wake cycle by making us sleepy at night. But does it work to combat jet lag in children? And is it sheltered?

Adults have been using melatonin for a long time.

Melatonin is produced by the pineal gland in response to darkness.

Melatonin triggers a number of physiological processes that facilitate promote drowsiness and sleep at the end of the day, so it can be really effective at helping adults fall asleep.

The utilize of melatonin in adults as a sleep aid has more than three times in the last few years. And adults have been using melatonin for a long time to cure jet lag.

Who can access it in Australia?

IN AustraliaMelatonin is classified as a pharmaceutical product. This means that it can only be purchased with a prescription and under the supervision of a doctor.

The Australian regulatory authority, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, he advises can only be prescribed to children with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or Smith–Magenis syndrome (a genetic developmental disorder that affects multiple parts of the body). This is because there is evidence that melatonin can alleviate symptoms of insomnia (difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep) in children with these conditions.

Melatonin is not recommended for utilize in children who have not been diagnosed with these conditions.

We don’t know if it’s sheltered and effective for other children and babies.

This latest expert advice The Melatonin Task Force of the International Children’s Sleep Association, of which I am a member, recommends that melatonin supplements should not be used in children under two years of age and should only be used in children with the diagnoses listed above until further data become available.

This is because we do not know the effects of melatonin on normally developing children and there are no data for infants and teenage children. the data we have occurs only in neuroatypical children.

From a scientific point of view, we cannot extrapolate the evidence regarding children with neurodevelopmental disorders to the broader population of children due to the physiological and psychological differences between the two populations.

We do not have data to facilitate us understand whether taking melatonin to aid sleep during jet lag is sheltered and effective.

So how do parents understand this?

Some parents access melatonin online, in foreign markets such as the United States.

In the US, melatonin is not classified as a pharmaceutical product but as diet supplementThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not regulate dietary supplements. in the same way as pharmaceutical products.

This makes melatonin readily available in the U.S. over the counter and online, without the need for medical supervision, for people of all ages.

You don’t know what you’re getting

Drug regulatory agencies do not rigorously monitor the safety and effectiveness of products available on the Internet, so we cannot be certain whether melatonin gummies imported from overseas are sheltered and effective.

The content is also very diverse, as you can see in studies analyzing the content of commercially available brands of melatonin supplements. Melatonin levels ranged from very minimal to more than four times the labeled amount.

Some products even contained serotonin. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that has a sophisticated relationship with melatonin. he was involved in the presentation of aggression and hyperactivity, and is often used in medications for depression and anxiety under strict medical supervision. Unknown serotonin intake would be a cause for concern.

Summary

Although melatonin appears to be an effective treatment for adults and children with neurodevelopmental disorders, evidence for its utilize in typically developing children is very restricted or nonexistent.

We don’t know if it’s sheltered or effective for normally developing infants, toddlers, or older children, and using products available online makes it even riskier.

Until we get the evidence, it’s safest to rely on behavioral sleep recommendationsThis includes ensuring that the child’s sleep and wake times are consistent and paying attention to exposure to lightAvoiding excessive screen utilize in the evening or before bed and increasing lightweight exposure in the morning will maximize melatonin secretion at the right times in your day-night cycle.

Providing teenage children with access to natural lightweight in their holiday destination is a good way to facilitate them adapt to a novel time zone.