Parents Sound Alarm Over Unauthorized Melatonin Use in Maine Daycare 

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Parents Sound Alarm Over Unauthorized Melatonin Use in Maine Daycare 
Parents Sound Alarm Over Unauthorized Melatonin Use in Maine Daycare 

United States: Laura Putnam never expected her sons to take melatonin supplements under daycare supervision.  

The children started attending Apple Blossom Childcare in Falmouth, Maine, during their first and second years of age. She claims she both avoided providing the supplements herself as well as blocking anyone else from administering the supplement that replicates brain-produced hormones mediating sleep, as reported by NBC News. 

The former day care center employee told Putnam in August that he and others distributed melatonin gummies to children during the time when her oldest son was 4 years old. She admitted to seeing texting between the former day care employee and the business owner regarding the administration of melatonin supplements. 

Putnam asked her older son about it. “He said, ‘Oh, it makes the babies go’ — and then he made a snoring sound,” she said. “He told me he got them when he was younger, and they made him very sleepy. And then I asked if his younger brother got them, and he looked at me and said, ‘Yes.’ And I said, ‘How often does he get them?’ And he said, ‘Every day.’” 

Putnam displayed a picture of a bottle of melatonin gummies to her younger kid.  She recalled, “He saw it right away and said, ‘That’s’ — and then he inserted the day care provider’s name.” 

Texts Reveal Supplement Use 

Lindsay Corcoran disclosed that her daughter attended Apple Blossom from 15 months until her nearly fourth year. She obtained information from texts between the ex-employee and owner, which revealed that her daughter had received a dose of melatonin. Seeing her name and a substance given to her against her permission left her in absolute shock. 

Multiple medical experts and community authorities throughout the nation object to melatonin treatment for child patients because this practice lacks proper research and needs parental authorization. Staff members operating child care facilities in Washington and New Hampshire gained national attention for administering melatonin to their children during the previous year. A daycare center director from Indiana received six months of jail time following her admission to providing melatonin gummies to children against their parent’s authorization. 

Daycare facilities in Maine can provide melatonin along with nonprescription meds to children, yet they must receive consent from guardians. Berry made a complaint to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, which triggered an investigation to examine reports of Apple Blossom Childcare abuse and neglect and licensing code violations in August. Putnam received notification from the agency through a standard letter that declared her older son to be an abuse/neglect victim four months later. 

“I think I felt that, you know, I let my kids down,” Putnam said. “Anyone who is a parent, your No. 1 job is to protect your kids above all else. And getting that letter that said my son has been named on the record as a victim of abuse slash neglect, I feel like I let him down.” 

Last month, Alison Lakin, who owns Apple Blossom, filed an appeal against the Department of Health and Human Services’ December determination. The Department of Health and Human Services reversed its previous abuse and neglect determinations because the case records lacked substantial evidence in February this year. 

Lakin told NBC News, in part, “Apple Blossom Childcare has earned and enjoyed an impeccable reputation for years, which has been and always will be based on conscientious care and a love of helping children unlock their unique potential.” 

The use of day care licensing rule violations is being appealed by Lakin. 

The reversal troubles Putnam because giving nonverbal toddlers melatonin while they are awake and without parent approval fails to meet the criteria for abuse and neglect. This practice fails to make sense to me. 

Expert Warnings and National Incidents 

Scientific professionals have observed rising melatonin usage among children. Data collected by the Centers for Disease Control Prevention in 2022 showed poison control calls from children causing melatonin overdose have been increasing during the past decade. According to pediatrician Dr. Rebecca Fisk at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, it is safe to administer low-dose melatonin supplements to children, but she does not approve of its use for kids younger than 5 years old. 

“We’re putting something unknown in a toddler’s body,” Fisk said. “We have no long-term studies on what is going on with melatonin in children, especially that young. We don’t know what it does to growth and development.” 

Maine state Sen. Teresa Pierce presents legislation mandating day care operators to inform parents about their facilities being under examination, as reported by NBC News. 

“We need to protect kids, and parents need to be informed,” said Pierce, a Democrat. “My bill will create more transparency when an investigation starts at a daycare or a child care area so that the parents that are in that daycare can be informed of the investigation going forward.” 

Putnam is advocating for harsher punishments.  

“I would like to see some repercussions for mistreating children, and I don’t feel like that has happened in my case,” she said.