(Undark) – More children are taking the hormone in the form of nightly gummies or drops. The long-term effects are unclear.

On social media, parenting influencers film themselves dancing with bottles of melatonin gummies or cut to shots of their snoozing kids. In the toxicology literature, a series of reports suggest a rise in melatonin misuse — and indicate that some caregivers are even giving doses to infants. And according to multiple studies, some brands may contain substantially higher doses of the hormone than product labels indicate.

The trend has unsettled many childhood sleep researchers. “It is a hormone that you are giving to young children. And there’s just very little research on the long-term effects of this,” said Lauren Hartstein, a childhood sleep researcher at the University of Arizona. (Read More)