There was once a time when taking melatonin was exclusively the preserve of international travellers trying to reset their body clock after crossing timezones. But over the years, its use has crept from jet lag cure to mainstream sleep aid – and it’s increasingly being given to kids.
There’s no parent-shaming here; a child who can’t or won’t sleep is the one thing guaranteed to tip even the most sanguine of caregivers to the brink of sanity. Yet I’ve been struck by the number of friends who now regularly rely on melatonin gummies to give their little ones an extra push into the land of nod, something that was nigh-on unheard of a decade ago.
