Until we ran out of her melatonin and I forgot to get more

So why don’t we learn about melatonin together while we wait for her to fall asleep naturally.

Hey Crystal! Why DO you give you’re Under 10 child Melatonin?

My child has ADHD. Through months of stress and frustration that I won’t go into we decided to see a doctor and she was diagnosed. At some point there will be a detailed post but this ain’t it.

When we put her on medicine for it, we were told that it could cause sleep issues. She’s had them for some time but we’d never seriously considered melatonin or anything of that sort.

We started giving her a 1mg melatonin gummy every night at the beginning of our bedtime routine. At this stage, we have other steps and there’s plenty of time for it to kick in. By the time our routine is complete, sometimes before, she’s out.

She took her last one last night, and I knew very quickly I would regret not picking another container up. So I’m writing this post while I wait impatiently for her to doze off.

Okay that was the back story. What is Melatonin anyway?

According to Wikipedia (that all-knowing website we all use but never donate to) Melatonin is a hormone naturally released at night by the pineal glad (no. The PI-NEE-AL gland, get your mind out the gutter[I will neither confirm nor deny whether I had to Google the pronunciation]). It is known to help regulate the sleep and wake cycle.

I also read a handful of times that it is released by your body when triggered by darkness. Perhaps that’s why it tells you to turn out the lights and put down the screens?

Basically meaning when the release of melatonin is triggered it helps promote a restful and relaxed state so you can fall asleep.

I personally have been using it a few years now. I take a chewable 10mg before I lay down, so I fall asleep easier the night before a workday. I do fall asleep faster.

I also have way weirder dreams.

“Evidence for its benefit for this use, however, is not strong.”

Wikipedia (UH EXCUSE YOU.)

Cool cool. So it’s made by the brain. But wait HOW DO THEY MAKE THE SUPPLEMENT

I’m so glad you asked!

Melatonin supplements can be found in natural and synthetic forms. The synthetic form is created completely in a pharmaceutical lab and is molecularly identical to what your own body produces.

But the natural melatonin supplements are made from the pineal gland of animals. Oh yes. They extract the melatonin from brains of animals.

HORRIFYING. However…

Throughout the last, oh, ten minutes of googling, I tried to search for “natural melatonin supplements”. Most every result only mentioned increasing your melatonin production naturally. So I am assuming that most of not all melatonin supplements on the market today are in fact synthetic.

I have my child’s empty container of melatonin before me. I’m going to email the manufacturer, just to see if they’ll respond, and ask them how this particular melatonin is made. This post will be updated in the text box below if they respond.

Thank the LORT she’s finally asleep.

It only took, like, an hour. She’s honestly been asleep for like fifteen minutes I was just so wrapped up in this post that haven’t stopped.

Yes, I wrote this post to soothe my mind while my child soothed herself without being dosed extra melatonin that her body did not produce. Come to think of it if she weren’t scared of the dark she might sleep easier.

Anyway, my very limited research skills have provided me with some entertainment. And my day job influenced me to Google how Melatonin supplements were made months ago. So I already knew that part.

Also the number of people who firmly believe the use of vitamins and supplements will cure them or keep them from getting sick at all is absolutely terrifying and depressing. The human race’s reliance on supplements might be getting out of hand, especially due to the current state of affairs *cough* pandemic *cough*.

Yes. They are useful and helpful and some people truly need some of these. And I advocate and encourage the use of a daily multivitamin (equate women’s daily for YEARS) for most everyone I talk to. But there are an alarming number of supplements sold in stores that are NOT regulated or tested by the FDA. Always keep that in mind.

And with this I’ll leave you!

Thanks for reading!

-c

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“Can you tell me where the melanoma is?”

That one customer like 7 or 8 years ago. Pretty sure she was looking for melatonin.

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