A reporter called Sarah Marsh has written an article on Monday based on very little factual evidence and more on mum shaming, and quite clearly unjustified opinions, which are at best, laughable, and at worst utterly tarnishing the community that I find myself in online today. Link to original article here: Too Many Children Being Prescribed Melatonin To help Aid Sleep
Apparently Melatonin is given out too readily to children, who are struggling to sleep, and even though the NHS Data on prescriptions does NOT give figures for children specifically - apparently the increase in prescriptions has been raised tenfold. What even is this number?
The article also states that it has become a fashionable treatment for parents who want ‘Perfect Children’
Trust me if I wanted perfect children I wouldn’t be continually seeking out our prescriptions of melatonin. If I wanted ‘Perfect Children’ they sure as hell wouldn’t need any medication.
As an advocate for the online community of parents who have children with sleep conditions, whether it be related to autism, or not, I find this article highly offending.
I had to fight tooth and nail for help with my daughters sleep issues; I went through years of behavior courses, and sleep courses and sleep diaries. Trying specific night-lights, and weighted blankets, massages with lavender, changing our whole routine so that it was completely tailored to her needs. No disruptions, 100% 1:1 before bed time. Guess what? It never worked, so forgive me if you think I’ve over reacted a little here, but my daughters melatonin prescription wasn’t handed to me on a plate. I didn’t want it because all the other autistic children had it. My daughter simply doesn’t produce melatonin, and needs this to be able to at least get off to sleep and have a few hours.
I know that the article is directed at parents who have children with mainly behavioral problems, but even that isn’t an easy fix. And many of those children are overlooked because of the funding cuts, and the hidden disabilities, the ability to mask their symptoms, so before you go around throwing the term “fashionable to use melatonin” try and include some actual factual based evidence on the number of children who are prescribed this medicine who DO NOT have accompanying disabilities and sleep disorders.
Please think before publishing such articles, We as a community of parents who have children with numerous disabilities, and medical issues, do our best to raise awareness, create understanding and acceptance of our little ones, or even ourselves. And when articles like this are published, they are increasingly misinterpreted, and can undo so much hard work that we do.
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