By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Two daycare workers in Ohio have been charged with giving children a dietary supplement in candy in order to make them sleep.
The Associated Press is reporting that Pamela Hartley, 56, and Donna Scott, 41, of the Covenant Apostolic Church Day Care in suburban Cincinnati were charged yesterday with three counts of child endangerment after giving children candy laced with melatonin, a supplement commonly used to help people fall asleep.
A co-worker notified police in December that Hartley and Scott were giving the children melatonin in candy. Parents later confirmed to investigators that their children often seemed groggy after leaving the day care.
“I understand how upset the parents of these children must be,” said prosecutor Joseph Deters. “Day care workers are responsible for a very valuable commodity and must be held to a high standard.”
Dr. Manny Alvarez, managing editor of health at FoxNews.com said giving the children melatonin was highly inappropriate and dangerous.
“Young children already make large quantities of natural melatonin, and to supplement it could potentially create an overdose situation,” he said. “It is unanimously accepted that children should not be given any kind of pharmaceutical aid to help with sleep and we should instead be implementing natural ways of organizing their sleep habits.”
According to WebMD, melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone that helps control sleeping and waking cycles. Light affects how much melatonin the body produces which is why melatonin levels begin to rise in the mid- to late evening, remain high for most of the night, then drop in the early morning hours. Melatonin supplements are used by people who work night shifts, to combat jet lag, or just to fall asleep faster.
Both women have been fired and if convicted, they could be sentenced to as many as 18 months in jail.
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