‘My 2yo son’s daycare fed the whole class sleeping tablets during nap time’

“It’s just crazy that a teacher who we thought was excellent would do this,” the dismayed parent said.

3 min read

July 6, 2023 - 8:11AM

Childcare fees growing faster than wages

Family Life

Don't miss out on the headlines from Family Life. Followed categories will be added to My News.

Samantha* dropped her two-year-old son, Jackson*, off to daycare like any other day.

All was well, or so it seemed.

That’s when she got a call from the daycare centre's owner, telling her to pick up her toddler.

Samantha's toddler was given two 3mg melatonin tablets. Source: iStock

Daycare employee spotted passing melatonin gummy bears out to toddlers

The owner explained to the American mum that a teacher “gave her whole damn class of two to three-year-olds two 3mg of Melatonin gummy bears,” she explained to Reddit.

Another teacher flagged the incident when they spotted her “taking gummy bears out of her backpack” and “passing them to the kids.”

When she returned to the centre, Jackson was “crying and dry vomiting”, something he did for the rest of the day.

“Three milligrams is enough to put adults to sleep, and this person gave each toddler six,” she wrote.

Justifiably panicked, she called the doctor, who told her he would be fine “as this much melatonin will not do any serious harm.”

Albeit slightly relieved, Samantha still found it “absolutely frightening” that a caregiver would “be so selfish to the point where they feed babies and toddlers sleeping pills” so they can “do personal tasks while the kids are sleeping."

The teacher has since been fired but claimed it was the first time she had given the children sleeping tablets.

“It’s just crazy that a teacher who we thought was excellent would do this,” she added.

Samantha explained that despite being told it was the only time her son was given melatonin, she had noticed a change in his sleeping patterns in the last two weeks.

“You as the parent are your baby’s last line of defence, especially if you notice something is different,” she wrote. “My son has been extra ‘sedated’ after daycare recently and I thought he was just tired.”

This change in behaviour leads Samantha to believe the teacher “has been doing this for a while” and how “crazy” it is that there is “no guardrail” against teachers “sneaking” such medication to the kids.

“I think the only reason she was caught today is that she slipped up and let another teach see her reaching into her bag,” Samantha added.

She confessed she’s “angry with [herself] for not trusting [her] instincts”, and “waved off” the signs of her son’s “suffering.”

“It’s people like this that make the job of a daycare teacher harder”

Online, everyone agreed that the whole situation was “f***ed up.”

“Wtf is wrong with people?” one shocked person asked.

“A teacher should be aware giving medical substances to kids will ruin her career... I just don’t know what to say,” added another.

Others said that while “melatonin isn’t a big deal”, giving it to kids “that are not your own without permission” is the real issue.

Some wondered if the stress of working in childcare drove them to use the medication, but former teachers quickly shut this down.

“I've worked as a daycare teacher and reading this - especially knowing just how much that is - is extremely upsetting and makes me very angry,” wrote a former teacher.

“As a daycare teacher, this pisses me off so bad,” another commented. “It’s people like this that make my job harder…”

*Names have been changed.