The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported that 11,000 children and infants presented to emergency departments between 2019 and 2022 after ingesting melatonin. More concerning is that flavored gummy products—which look like candy—were involved in nearly 5,000 of those cases. More than half of accidental ingestions involved children between 3 and 5 years old, according to CDC. Melatonin products do not require child-resistant packaging, but the agency found about three-quarters of the documented cases of kids ingesting melatonin involved packaging in bottles—suggesting that young children were able to open the bottles on their own or that the bottles may not have been closed properly.Â
Keep out of reach of children: Unsupervised melatonin ingestions rarely resulted in hospitalization (6.5%) as per CDC, however, the Council for Responsible Nutrition has now adopted new voluntary guidelines for manufacturers of melatonin products, including labeling advisories and child-deterrent packaging for products that are in flavored chewable forms that could be especially attractive to children.