Laura Putnam never thought her sons would receive melatonin supplements at day care. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She enrolled them at Apple Blossom Childcare in Falmouth, Maine, when they were 1 and 2 years old. She said she hasn\u2019t given them melatonin and hasn\u2019t granted anyone else permission to give them the supplement, which mimics a hormone produced in the brain that makes people sleepy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But in August, Putnam said, she learned from a former employee at the day care center that he and others had given melatonin gummies to children, including her older son, who was 4 years old at the time. She said she saw text messages between the former employee and the day care center\u2019s owner about melatonin use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Putnam asked her older son about it. \u201cHe said, \u2018Oh, it makes the babies go\u2019 \u2014 and then he made a snoring sound,\u201d she said. \u201cHe 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, \u2018Yes.\u2019 And I said, \u2018How often does he get them?\u2019 And he said, \u2018Every day.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Putnam showed her younger son a photo of a bottle of melatonin gummies. \u201cHe immediately saw it and said, \u2018That\u2019s\u2019 \u2014 and then he inserted the name of the day care provider,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lindsay Corcoran said her daughter was also at Apple Blossom from ages 15 months to nearly 4. She said she also learned from texts between the former employee and the owner that her daughter received melatonin. \u201cI was shocked to see her name and that there was this substance given to her without my consent,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several parents, doctors and lawmakers nationwide are raising concerns, saying giving melatonin to young kids isn\u2019t well-studied and shouldn\u2019t be done without parental permission. Last year, child care staff members in New Hampshire and Washington made headlines for dispensing melatonin to children. An Indiana day care center\u2019s director was sentenced to six months in jail after having pleaded guilty to giving melatonin gummies to kids without their parents\u2019 consent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Maine, it isn\u2019t illegal for day care centers to give children melatonin or other nonprescription medications<\/a>, but they need parental consent. In August, after it received a complaint, Maine\u2019s Department of Health and Human Services launched an investigation into allegations of abuse, neglect and licensing violations at Apple Blossom Childcare. Four months later, Putnam said, the agency informed her in a letter that her older son was \u201ca victim of abuse\/neglect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think I felt that, you know, I let my kids down,\u201d Putnam said. \u201cAnyone 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Apple Blossom\u2019s owner, Alison Lakin, appealed the December findings. Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services overturned its findings of abuse and neglect, indicating \u201cthere is insufficient information in the case record to support\u201d them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lakin told NBC News, in part, \u201cApple 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lakin is also appealing the findings that she violated day care licensing rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Putnam is frustrated with the reversal: \u201cHow is giving a nonverbal toddler melatonin in the middle of the day without parental consent not abuse or neglect? It doesn\u2019t make any sense in my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Researchers say melatonin use in kids is on the rise<\/a>. Calls to poison control centers from kids taking too much melatonin<\/a> have also steadily increased over the last 10 years, a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2022 found. While low doses of melatonin supplements may be given to children safely<\/a>, Dr. Rebecca Fisk, a pediatrician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, doesn\u2019t recommend melatonin use in kids under 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re putting something unknown in a toddler\u2019s body,\u201d Fisk said. \u201cWe have no long-term studies on what is going on with melatonin in children, especially that young. We don\u2019t know what it does to growth and development.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maine state Sen. Teresa Pierce is introducing a bill that would require day care operators to notify parents if their centers are under investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe need to protect kids, and parents need to be informed,\u201d said Pierce, a Democrat. \u201cMy bill will create more transparency when an investigation starts at a day care or a child care area so that the parents that are in that day care can be informed of the investigation going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Putnam is pushing for stiffer penalties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI would like to see some repercussions for mistreating children, and I don\u2019t feel like that has happened in my case,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n