NewsBite

My 6yo went to his first sleepover; the mum dosed him with melatonin

"I am blindsided she did this... I want to confront her," the enraged mum writes.

The rise in melatonin use in kids and how safe is it?

Sarah's* six-year-old son, Jake* went to his first sleepover this week at a close friend's house. 

Four other kids were there, all aged between six and eight.

All was well, or so it seemed.

Alarm bells were first raised when she got a text from the other mum saying that Jake was asleep by nine o'clock.

"I found it unusual because he would usually stay up later with all that excitement. But I thought that he was just very tired," the mum explained in a post on Mumsnet. 

Want to join the family? Sign up to our Kidspot newsletter for more stories like this. 

RELATED: Mum hires stripper for Barbie party for 5-year-olds

"Because of his deep sleep, he had an accident in the night"

The next day when she picked Jake up, he casually mentioned that all the kids were dosed with melatonin.

"I know it's super common to do so but our son has never had melatonin and we certainly would have said no if we were asked," Sarah said.

"It put him into a really deep sleep, causing him to have an accident in the night which really embarrassed him."

At the time, she was so shocked and blindsided she didn't know how best to address the situation. 

"Melatonin has been something we agreed not to give our children unless medically directed," she wrote. 

After speaking to her husband, who was equally as irritated they dosed their child without consent, he encouraged her to confront the mum and set the boundary now.

But on the other hand, she thought maybe she could just leave it as "Jake won't be sleeping over there for quite some time."

Conflicted, she asked the group, "What would you do? Are we right to be irritated?"

Image: IStock
Image: IStock

RELATED: We can’t agree on the religion of our kid’s school

"I would be going crazy"

In the comments, everyone agreed that the other mum was totally out of line and that the OP should absolutely say something. 

"WTF," the top comment wrote. "She gave your child medication without your consent? Medication that's actually supposed to be prescribed and not just bought (in the UK)? I'd be livid."

"Where are you? I’m presuming in a country where it’s bought over the counter, even so, nobody should give other people's children something like that," another shocked person said. 

"I’d be very very annoyed and struggle to address it calmly," admitted a third.

Then this mum wrote, "I wouldn't be happy and I don't understand why the parents didn't just message and ask if you were ok with it.

"I wouldn't even give another child paracetamol without checking with their parent."

"What kind of f**ked up human thinks it's ok to drug other people's kids like that?!" a different reader concluded. 

"I would be going crazy, that’s assault worthy of talking to the police," declared a final woman. 

*Names have been changed

Originally published as My 6yo went to his first sleepover; the mum dosed him with melatonin

Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/my-6yo-went-to-his-first-sleepover-the-mum-dosed-him-with-melatonin/news-story/a045a80a3539ebff8d432d94bfadae37