Melatonin is a hormone that helps us to fall asleep faster, and has many health benefits.
Whenever possible, we want to support our bodies to make melatonin rather than taking it in the form of a supplement. Because melatonin is a hormone, children should not take it without a doctor’s approval.
It is not suggested for children to take a melatonin supplement for long-term use, but (if it works for your child) it can be helpful to use it for the first 2-3 nights of sleep training to help your child to fall asleep a bit easier. (Ask for details on that if it would be helpful for you).
TLDR (Too long, didn’t read):
Go outside as soon as you can in the morning. Let daylight tell your cells it’s morning.
Eat unprocessed foods. Many of them contain melatonin.
In the evening 1-2 hours before bedtime, use room darkening shades, red nightlights, and blue blocking glasses. Avoid screens if you can. Let the darkness tell your cells it’s night.
To help our bodies to make melatonin naturally:
During the day:
1. Go outside even for a few minutes within the first 1-2 hours after waking up, so that our eyes can get daylight as soon as possible. If possible, you can go outside to eat something nutritious or to drink some water or soothing herbal tea. You can take a walk, blow some bubbles with your child, or drink your coffee. When we go outside in the morning and the sunlight hits our eyeballs (even on a cloudy day, there is some sunshine behind it), we are telling our cells that it’s morning. This is important for setting our circadian rhythm. At minimum, we can open all the curtains to “let the sunshine in.” And if there’s any way that you and your child can go outside even briefly, do it.
2. We want to provide our cells with the building blocks for melatonin, so that our bodies have melatonin available for use when our circadian rhythm says that it’s time! You can do this by eating your (preferably organic) fruits and vegetables and minimally processed foods. Some foods that contain melatonin include:
Eggs
Fish
Whole grains
Nuts, especially pistachios
Mushrooms
Fruits — especially grapes, cherries, and strawberries
Vegetables such as tomatoes, mushrooms, and peppers
Tomatoes, such as beefsteak tomatoes
Germinated legumes and seeds
(Side note: when eating sweet or higher carbohydrate foods such as fruits or whole grains, it is recommend to eat them with proteins and healthy fats such as nuts, olive oil, avocado or avocado oil. If you do this, you will reduce the chance of a glucose spike, which can also impact sleep. If you choose melatonin-producing fruits and nuts like cherries or strawberries or grapes (cut very carefully to avoid choking) and eat them with pistachios, you are getting an extra dose of melatonin as well as the reduced glycemic impact. Eating vegetables with extra virgin olive oil can provide even more melatonin to your body, so roasting vegetables can be a great option! Just be sure to choose extra virgin olive oil as your oil of choice.)
At night:
Our circadian rhythm tells our bodies to make more melatonin when there is a lack of blue light. Blue light is commonly found in sunshine, but it is also commonly found in household lights including tablets, phones, and televisions. In order to reduce exposure to blue light at night, I encourage you to:
Use room darkening shades. Adults can use a sleep mask or a hat over your eyes.
Get some red lightbulbs and/or red nightlights. What we don’t want is white light or bright light in the 1-2 hours before bedtime. (The harder it is for you or your child to fall asleep, the earlier I would turn off blue lights or bright white lights and use red lights instead.)
Double check the settings of your phone and/or tablet to be sure that you have “night mode” turned on.
If you can, get some inexpensive blue light blocking glasses. They are available on Amazon for less than $15. One suggestion: Your child (especially if they are young) is a lot more likely to use something new like blue light reducing glasses if it’s something that everyone is doing. This is a time to use positive peer pressure. Make it fun. And the more people who do it, the more they will feel like it’s just “something that we do in our family”.
Set an alarm 1-2 hours before bedtime to remind you to dim the lights and use red nightlights and blue light reducing glasses.
A pricier but automatic way to manage lights:
Smart lights can be a helpful way to automatically support your body’s melatonin production and circadian rhythm. Do you need to do this to have healthy sleep? Absolutely not. Is it nice? Yes, it really is. With smart lights such as Philips Hue, the lightbulbs connect to a “bridge” that connects them to your wifi and to your cell phone. Check the manufacturer of the lights you’ve chosen to figure out how to install them. I’ve been using Philips Hue lights for many years now. They slowly and automatically turn on over a period of 30 minutes at the time that I want to wake in the morning. And they automatically turn the lights to red in the evening. I no longer need to use an alarm clock, and the lights wake me up gently. (Note that in the summer time when the sun comes up before the lights go on, it can be helpful to use room darkening shades). I still use the blue light blocking glasses at night to reduce the impact of screens.
A note for breastfeeding parents:
If you can, label stored milk by whether you pumped it in the day or night. This is because your milk contains up to ten times the melatonin at night than during the day (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5409706/). If you are struggling with sleep, try giving milk that was pumped during daylight in the daylight, and giving milk that was pumped during darkness in the dark hours.
References
Inchauspé, Jessie. Glucose Revolution : The Life-Changing Power of Balancing Your Blood Sugar. Melbourne, Vic, Penguin Life, 2022.
Means, Casey, and Calley Means. Good Energy. Penguin, 14 May 2024.
Meng, Xiao. “Dietary Sources and Bioactivities of Melatonin.” Nutrients, vol. 9, no. 4, 7 Apr. 2017, p. 367, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5409706/, https://doi.org/10.3390/nu9040367.
Sleep 2025, Conference of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, including Eat Well, Sleep Tight: Strategies for Cardiometabolic Health by Dr. Marie-Pierre St-Onge and Innovative Technologies and Behavioral Interventions: Using AI to Improve Sleep Health in Neurodivergent Children and Children with Chronic Conditions by Marc DiSabella et al.
Song, Elisa M.D. Healthy Kids, Happy Kids. HarperCollins, 14 May 2024.
*This content is for informational purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. I am not, nor am I holding myself out to be a doctor/physician, nurse, physician’s assistant, advanced practice nurse, or any other medical professional (“Medical Provider”), psychiatrist, psychologist, therapist, counselor, or social worker (“Mental Health Provider”), registered dietician or licensed nutritionist. As a child development specialist and sleep practitioner, I am not providing direct health care, medical or nutritional therapy services, or attempting to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any physical, mental or emotional issue, disease or condition. The information provided is not intended to be a substitute for the professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment provided by your own Medical Provider or Mental Health Provider. You agree and acknowledge that I am not providing medical advice, mental health advice, or religious advice in any way. Always seek the advice of your own Medical Provider and/or Mental Health Provider regarding any questions or concerns you have about your specific health or the health of your child. You understand that any mention of any suggestion or recommendation is to be taken at your own risk, with no liability on my part.
