Four New Hampshire daycare employees allegedly spiked children’s food with the sleep supplement melatonin and were arrested on Thursday.
After a six-month investigation, police discovered that children had been furtively dosed with melatonin. Officers arrested the daycare owner, 52-year-old Sally Dreckmann, along with three of her employees: Traci Innie, 51; Kaitlin Filardo and Jessica Foster, who are both 23.
Melatonin is a sleep aid supplement that is sold over the counter. But the long-term impacts of melatonin on children are not widely known.
Furthermore, there have been several reports of children being overdosed with melatonin in recent years. About 7% of emergency department visits between 2012 and 2021 were for children who had accidentally ingested melatonin, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine issued a health warning for melatonin use around kids and adolescents, warning against the lack of US Food and Drug Administration oversight for the sleep aid.
Melatonin is quite commonly used as a sleep aid for children on the autism spectrum, or with ADHD, etc. Disrupted sleep, or insomnia can be a big problem and lead to a greater difficulty for children to handle stress or stimulus and can lead to a lot more meltdowns or difficulties with things they can otherwise handle. We used it regularly with our son (as recommended by a doctor) and it made a world of difference for his sleep and then his ability to handle the next day.