this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2024
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ER visits for children accidentally eating melatonin have spiked drastically: CDC (thehill.com)
submitted 8 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/health@lemmy.world
11 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Unsupervised exposures of infants and young children to melatonin have increased substantially in recent years, landing thousands of children in the emergency room.

The number of kids aged 5 and younger who went to an emergency room for unsupervised melatonin ingestion increased 420 percent from 2009 to 2020, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

More recently, melatonin was implicated in approximately 11,000 emergency department visits among infants and young children between 2019–2022.

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[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 24 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

"Administration of daily doses of up to 300 mg of melatonin without causing clinically significant adverse reactions have been reported in the literature.

If overdose occurs, drowsiness is to be expected. Clearance of the active substance is expected within 12 hours after ingestion. No special treatment is required."

https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/product-information/circadin-epar-product-information_en.pdf

Maybe parents should be educated about the fact that it isn't dangerous in overdose, rather than publishing clickbait stories?

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 12 points 8 months ago (2 children)

There's also been a lot of parents/caregivers who admit to giving kids melatonin to knock them out...

So if there's a large increase in "accidents" it might be due to parents giving them to their kids and saying it's "candy" first. It might even parents dosing their kids too much and panicking, then blaming the kids when they go to ER

[–] finkrat@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

This is likely. We use it for ours but she has actual documented insomnia and requires it to get an actual full night sleep. I could see parents using it for non-insomniac kids and then freaking out that they're not rousing easily, "bring them to the ER!" Use supplements wisely and in conjunction with doctor/medical staff feedback.

[–] autumn_rain@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago

There's many gummies the parents have that have CBD or other ingredients in them. Kids could have heart issues or some other conditions where an OD is dangerous on anything.

Likely many dog and cat deaths too due to the Xylitol that's used as a sweetener in gummy vitamins and supplements.

CBD used in melatonin gummies can harm cats and dogs too, and melatonin isn't good for some with health issues. Melatonin though is often used for animal health issues too, and is safe in appropriate therapeutic doses - but not something with all the additional ingredients.

[–] qooqie@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

At least half of emergency room visits for melatonin ingestions involved flavored products, such as gummies or chewable tablets, that are frequently used by and might appeal to young children, the agency noted

Yuh, not surprised. I wanted a basic melatonin sleep aid and I had to really search since most are gummies

[–] gibmiser@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Medicine shouldn't taste good.

[–] lud@lemm.ee 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Most medicine doesn't but babies happily eat it anyways. Hell, babies will drink gasoline if it can get its hand on it.

Medicine (and gasoline) should be kept away from children's view and reach.

[–] zero_spelled_with_an_ecks@programming.dev 3 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Maybe gasoline is delicious. I haven't tried it yet but now I'm curious. I don't think I will try it, but still, now I want to know.

[–] gibmiser@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

My father says when he was young he thought it smelled good so he had a sip and about threw up. So, not a great recommendation

[–] zero_spelled_with_an_ecks@programming.dev 3 points 8 months ago

So like the opposite of durian.

[–] lud@lemm.ee 3 points 8 months ago

Correction: Medicine (and gasoline) should be kept away from children's and zero_spelled_with_an_ecks's view and reach.