Getting children to sleep can be the toughest part of parenting for some, and sleep deprivation of kids and their parents can make early years challenging.
"As a newborn, he had his days and nights flip flopped, so that was tough for a while," Killingworth mom Laura Wing said of her now 1-year-old son James.
Wing and her husband caught a break when at 4 months, James began sleeping through the night, but other parents are not so lucky.
Some turn to melatonin for help getting kids to get to sleep and stay asleep. Melatonin is produced naturally in the brain to regulate sleep cycles and is also manufactured and available in pill form.
Dr. Vasanth Kainkaryam, a pediatrician with Iora Health at Hartford Healthcare, warns against this. Melatonin is not a drug, but rather a supplement.
"The problem we see with a lot of these supplements is they don’t go through the same rigorous trialing and data collection that we do with the drugs, so we don’t know what happens long term," said Kainkaryam.
He said some data shows success with melatonin in very specific cases.
"Like for instance, autism spectrum disorder children who really struggle with sleep, that melatonin can be beneficial in regulating some of that," Kainkaryam explained.
The pediatrician advises parents to look at a child’s behaviors and routine to see what could be causing sleep problems. He recommends physical activity right after school and says children thrive on routine, especially bedtime routines, which should involve reading.
Kainkaryam said he sees a growing problem with electronics being used too late in the day.
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"There’s a lot of information out there that screen light can actually reset some of that sleep cycle, so if kids are playing on a computer or iPads or phones before they go to bed, that can actually affect their sleep," he said.
And if a routine doesn't work, doctors can refer children to sleep specialists. With the growing obesity problem in children, sleep apnea could also be a factor.
