Melatonin

Many parents use social media to seek advice about parenting and health care. New study findings suggest that expert advice on alternative sleep aids for their children may be hard to come by on these platforms.

The American Academy of Neurology published a clinical practice guideline to address sleep disturbances in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, which included a recommendation that they be offered melatonin if other strategies are not helpful.

Findings of a cross-sectional study published in JAMA Pediatrics suggested that approximately 6% of children — or one in 17 — are given melatonin for sleep problems.