Sleep researchers at the University of Adelaide are warning doctors and parents not to provide the drug melatonin to children to help control their sleep problems.Melatonin is a hormone produced in the body with the onset of darkness. It plays an important role in fine tuning people’s circadian rhythms, such as the timing of sleep onset, as well as other biological processes.In a paper published in the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, Professor David Kennaway, Head of the Circadian Physiology Laboratory at the University of Adelaide’s Robinson Research Institute, warns that providing melatonin supplements to children may result in serious side effects when the children are older.”The use of melatonin as a drug for the treatment of sleep disorders for children is increasing and this is rather alarming,” Professor Kennaway says.
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Steven V. Rodrigues, MD 