Four US daycare workers charged with spiking children’s food with melatonin

Four New Hampshire daycare employees allegedly spiked children’s food with the sleep supplement melatonin and were arrested on Thursday.

After a six-month investigation, police discovered that children had been furtively dosed with melatonin. Officers arrested the daycare owner, 52-year-old Sally Dreckmann, along with three of her employees: Traci Innie, 51; Kaitlin Filardo and Jessica Foster, who are both 23.

Melatonin is a sleep aid supplement that is sold over the counter. But the long-term impacts of melatonin on children are not widely known.

Furthermore, there have been several reports of children being overdosed with melatonin in recent years. About 7% of emergency department visits between 2012 and 2021 were for children who had accidentally ingested melatonin, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine issued a health warning for melatonin use around kids and adolescents, warning against the lack of US Food and Drug Administration oversight for the sleep aid.

Snowpix,
@Snowpix@lemmy.ca avatar

Who let the local trailer park run a day care?

MonkderDritte,

So just feeding people melatonin works? I take Quetiapine, which makes the body create some form of melatonin (feels a bit different than mental/body tired).

mint_tamas,

It works if you take it for its function: to signal the body that night is starting in 1-2 hours, and take it in a small dose (1-2mg). It’s not a sedative, like many seem to assume. It’s best to take it when you start your night routine.

Suavevillain,
@Suavevillain@lemmy.world avatar

Daycare is such a roll of the dice if you get some of the best caretakers in the world or some type of scumbag watching your kids.

I_Has_A_Hat,

I know we shouldn’t judge based on looks, but if all the adults at the daycare look like meth heads… Maaaaaybe pick a different daycare.

EnderMB,

Finding daycare is a fucking nightmare. Our experience has been:

  • Needing to book daycare a year before the baby is born. Think about that for a second…
  • Available daycare in run-down shitholes, or places undergoing huge renovations. Nothing like watching a dozen kids sleep on the floor in a freshly painted room because their main room has two labourers building new walls.
  • People that are barely in their twenties running entire nurseries, with some people barely out of school that look like they’ve never seen a kid.
  • People that run “nurseries” out of a house that could barely house two people, yet expect 30 kids to be cared for there.
  • Places with spaces, but news stories about illness outbreaks, prior neglect/abuse, etc.

At this point, I think we’re just going to have to opt for a childminder, because it’s all we can get…

KevonLooney,

The issue is that you are paying for the daycare’s rent, wages, utilities, and food. That’s expensive now. Daycares don’t make a ton of money unless you pay more than $1000 per month. With 30 kids, that would pay for $5000 in rent and 4 people working for $75K (taxes and benefits included). That doesn’t even include food.

Any cheaper and they are going to have to cut costs somewhere. If you have 2 kids, it can be cheaper to just have a caretaker visit your house. You are already paying for the mortgage and food.

some_guy,

I get wanting to calm down the kids to make your job easier, but have you considered just gagging them and duct-taping them to a chair?

/s obv

Aux,

You can simply apply a tourniquet to their necks.

Stamau123,

7% of all children hospital visits were for melatonin ingestion? That’s surprisingly high. But I guess real childrearing problems have been mostly done away with so you get weird visits like that when you do.

some_guy,

It’s worth considering that a lot of melatonin is sold as gummies. They’re tasty. Little kids finds candy (gummies) and eats a whole bottle. Uh oh.

I’m sure there is a non-dangerous, or at least not life threatening, dose for most kids. I’d be surprised if one gummy sent a 10yo or similar aged kid to an ER without other extenuating circumstances.

Kit,

I found it surprising as well. Maybe parents of young children tend to take melatonin to help them sleep, because parents tend to be sleep deprived?

drspod,

The article said 7% of all emergency visits (with no qualifier). You said 7% of visits by children which sounds more reasonable. The actual statistic is even more specific than that.

During 2019–2022, melatonin was implicated in 7% of all ED visits for unsupervised medication exposures by infants and young children.

- www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/wr/…/mm7309a5-H.pdf

The article links a summary of the wrong CDC report (June 2022) that does not contain this stat. The report that this stat comes from (quoted above) was published in March 2024 by a completely different group of researchers.

And why did the article say the statistic was for 2012-2021 when the quote statistic refers to the period 2019-2022? Because they’ve conflated another statistic from the same report:

The prevalence of melatonin use by U.S. adults quintupled from 0.4% during 1999–2000 to 2.1% during 2017–2018 (1). This rise coincided with a 530% increase in poison center calls for pediatric melatonin exposures during 2012–2021 and a 420% increase in emergency department (ED) visits for unsupervised melatonin ingestion by infants and young children during 2009–2020 (2,3).

It took me about 10 seconds to find the report and verify the stat. It was the first link returned in the search results.

Journalism really is dead.

BigPotato,

Manchester, NH and abuse of OTC meds, yeah, that tracks.

geography082, (edited )

The question is, how a parent can leave their beloved child to people with those faces and expressions?. They should be glad they didn’t put meth in the food…

ickplant,
@ickplant@lemmy.world avatar

You clearly haven’t seen what people charge for daycare. Some people have no choice, this is the problem in this country. Not everyone can drop more than their mortgage on daycare.

geography082,

There are ALWYS options when kids are involved . I’m not rich I’m a common worker, and I would make the imposible to avoid leaving my child there.

tsonfeir,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

Not every ugly person wants to drug kids.

ShepherdPie,

But these four did.

tsonfeir,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

Is it because they are ugly?

ShepherdPie,

More that they look like they might be cooking meth on their days off.

geography082,

Exactly

tsonfeir,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

Well, yes they do have that vibe. Probably cooking in the basement of the child care building.

card797,

deleted_by_author

    •
    SaltySalamander, (edited )

    You're making us sane marijuana advocates look bad.

    metallic_substance, (edited )

    This is some world class gymnastics to make this article relevant to a (completely unrelated) topic that matters to you

    Fosheze,

    I’m confused. Are you implying that they should have gotten the kids stoned?

    FlyingSquid,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    Even if it had no longer-term health effects on a child’s developing body (and I’m not convinced of that at all), it just seems like a bad plan considering kids already eat too much, get paranoid and make bad decisions.

    SirSamuel,

    So I wondered what the charges were and the penalties for giving OTC medication to minors without parental consent. It appears that the FDA considers melatonin a food supplement, not a drug. (Disclaimer, this is from 5 minutes searching online, I have no real knowledge beyond that). After reading the article, and lacking any other information, it seems like the investigation was spurred by the melatonin dosing, but the illegal part was operating an unlicensed daycare with more than 3 children in a private home. (Again, I’m very uninformed and guessing/extrapolating)

    I’m actually not sure if it’s illegal to give melatonin to minors without guardian consent. Unethical certainly, but if it’s not a controlled substance or medication regulated by the FDA like OTC meds, is it illegal? There a some state laws prohibiting some supplements being given to minors. For example, NY has outlawed sales of dietary supplements to minors. If the supplement can be proved to harm a child, that’s clearly illegal. It looks like there’s not enough research to prove that’s the case with melatonin though.

    If anyone has a better understanding of these things, I’d love to hear it. I’m really curious about this now

    Telodzrum,

    Hiding a supplement in food in order to cause a person to sleep is a battery at common law. Bringing simple assault criminal charges under that legal theory should work fine.

    SirSamuel,

    Makes sense. Thank you. I’m aware of what is sometimes a vast gulf between what is right and what is legal. I’m glad to see the principle of battery and the law are aligned in this case

    ebits21, (edited )
    @ebits21@lemmy.ca avatar

    7% of emergency department visits were for kids that took melatonin?

    What kind of bull is this?

    (Bad reporting or proofreading, 7% of pediatric ingestions)

    Chozo,

    Yeah, that seems strangely high. I feel like we'd hear about this much more frequently if it was that common.

    girlfreddy, (edited )
    @girlfreddy@lemmy.ca avatar

    It’s right in the article … info from the CDC.

    NegativeInf,

    “During 2012–2021, a total of 260,435 pediatric melatonin ingestions were reported to poison control centers, representing 2.25% of all pediatric ingestions reported during the same period. The majority of ingestions were unintentional (94.3%), involved males aged ≤5 years, occurred in the home (99.0%), and were managed on-site (88.3%) (Table). Most children start (84.4%) were asymptomatic. Among those with reported symptoms, most involved the gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, or central nervous systems. Among 27,795 patients who received care at a health care facility, 19,892 (71.6%) were discharged, 4,097 (14.7%) were hospitalized, and 287 (1.0%) required intensive care. Among all melatonin ingestions, 4,555 (1.6%) resulted in more serious outcomes. Five children required mechanical ventilation, and two died. Both deaths occurred in children aged <2 years (3 months and 13 months) and occurred in the home. One ingestion involved intentional medication misuse; the reason for the other is unknown.”

    From the paper they link? But IDK where that 7% came from? 2.25% of pediatric ingestions.

    girlfreddy,
    @girlfreddy@lemmy.ca avatar

    Please quote your source for that info.

    whoreticulture,

    lmao being downvoted for politely asking for a source

    NegativeInf, (edited )

    You mean the literal paper that the guardian links to in their article?

    www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7122a1.htm

    drspod,

    The article links the wrong paper.

    The source of the 7% stat is this report from 2024: www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/wr/…/mm7309a5-H.pdf

    During 2019–2022, melatonin was implicated in 7% of all ED visits for unsupervised medication exposures by infants and young children.

    NegativeInf,

    Interesting. I wonder which is more appropriate, the ten year or more recent two year study.

    Additionally, I wonder if there’s any pandemic accounting for the number of parents dosing their kids from having to be at home all day with them.

    Thanks for the additional context.

    archonet,

    Now those are some funny mugshots.

    ShepherdPie,

    Could you imagine voluntarily leaving your kids with any one of these people?

    Apytele, (edited )

    Those emergency room visits referenced were almost certainly not necessary and just the result of overly fussy parents (addendum: excluding weird allergic or idiosyncratic reactions to dyes and whatnot). It’ll do really weird things to you circadian rhythm and you’ll have some utterly surreal nightmares, but that’s not anything you can’t manage at home. It’s suuuch a light sleep aid it’s not going to sedate enough to mess with the drive to breathe and your body won’t convert enough of it to serotonin to do that either. It doesn’t really matter how much you take either.

    The LD50 (average amount it takes to kill) is over a whole gram and is basically unestablished in humans. That’s an insanely large amount as far as medication dosing goes, especially since we’re talking by kilogram of body weight. The max established safe dose (no nightmares) that melatonin is routinely sold as is like 10mg total for an adult, so the person would probably need to swallow an entire 100-count bottle for every kilo they weigh. Also I almost guarantee any pediatric overdoses were the gummies (obviously), so they would have to eat a 100-count bottle of the highest dose gummies for each kg. Babies don’t even start eating solid food until around 6 months when they’ll probably weigh around 6kg, so picture an infant getting open and chugging down a half-dozen 100 count bottles. It’s a nonsensical picture.

    The daycare workers should still be fired asf though that’s super weird and yeah those kids should be getting regular checkups to make sure this hasn’t messed with their growth or anything.

    dodgy_bagel,

    LD50.

    Which means lethal dose in 50% of a population.

    An LD1 dose would be too high.

    FlyingSquid,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    You’re discounting possible allergic reactions.

    Apytele,

    True!

    blazera,
    @blazera@lemmy.world avatar

    Should daycare workers be jailed for feeding kids foods containing soy?

    FlyingSquid,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    Sorry… you’re comparing soy to melatonin? Also, this was about why kids would be hospitalized, not what people should be jailed for.

    blazera,
    @blazera@lemmy.world avatar

    You’re responding to an explanation on how melatonin isnt a medical emergency. How all that stuff doesnt matter because what if theyre allergic. Melatonin is a hormone naturally produced in our bodies, allergic reactions to melatonin supplements are very rare. Soy is a far more common allergy.

    FlyingSquid,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    Okay? And?

    blazera,
    @blazera@lemmy.world avatar

    I guess i should be asking the same of you, you brought up allergies but werent trying to make any kind of point?

    FlyingSquid,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    I’m pretty sure my point was that some of the children hospitalized probably had allergic reactions.

    What that has to do with arresting people over soy is beyond me though.

    blazera,
    @blazera@lemmy.world avatar

    the part where people were arrested over melatonin

    FlyingSquid, (edited )
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    Yes… they were arrested for giving it to children without their parents’ permission.

    It is legal for a parent to give their child melatonin. Are you really not aware of that?

    I mean read the damn article-

    “The children’s food was being sprinkled with melatonin without their parent’s knowledge or consent,” police said they had determined after the investigation.

    blazera,
    @blazera@lemmy.world avatar

    and why would they need their parents permission? I dont think you took in what you were responding to, melatonin isnt harmful.

    FlyingSquid,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    Sorry… why would daycare workers need parents’ permission to add melatonin to a child’s food? Are you serious?

    Harmful has nothing to do with it. You don’t seem to understand about what daycare workers have the legal right to do.

    I sincerely hope you do not work around children.

    blazera,
    @blazera@lemmy.world avatar

    There’s no specific laws against this, they’re charged with endangering children. Which means risking harm. You’ve encountered the reality that there’s no real risk of harm so you try to justify it with risk of allergic reaction.

    circuscritic, (edited )

    … providing psychotropic chemicals to children, en masse, and without the knowledge or permission of their parents.

    Yeah, you’re right, definitely no laws against that and clearly there’s no possible risk of harm.

    SaltySalamander,

    The FDA considers melatonin supplements as a food additive, not a drug. Again, why exactly would it be considered illegal?

    circuscritic, (edited )

    No, they don’t. It’s considered a dietary supplement, which thanks to the Supplement lobby is notoriously unregulated.

    And FWIW I don’t think that you pointing out how special interests lobbies have created any entire industry built on the manufacturering and mass marketing of unregulated supplements and chemicals somehow supports the idea that their safe for kids to consume, or to be dosed with by unlicensed daycare workers.

    SaltySalamander,

    Never said anything about this was safe. I was making the point that it's probably not illegal.

    circuscritic,

    A point you supported by saying melatonin was considered a food, or food additive, which it’s not.

    It is legally considered a supplement, which are not FDA regulated, and because it’s used to alter a persons mind and behavior, it is a psychotropic.

    So are you saying it’s not, or shouldn’t be, illegal for unlicensed daycare workers to secretly dose children’s food with unregulated psychotropic supplements?

    SaltySalamander,

    Whether it should or shouldn't be illegal is irrelevant as to whether it is illegal. Should it be? Probably. Currently, it isn't.

    circuscritic, (edited )

    …it absolutely is illegal to provide OTC substances to children in your daycare without a signed release from each parent.

    As it’s so clearly illegal, I was genuinely curious if your comment crusade was because you had a moral objection to it being illegal…hence my asking for clarification.

    Additionally, this was an unlicensed daycare, and there might be additional restrictions in place regulating the dispensing of any substance to children, but you can look up the relevant NH regulations if you’re curious.

    SaltySalamander,

    Curiously, they weren't charged with giving kids in their care melatonin. Hmm.

    circuscritic, (edited )

    You realize that if they dosed the kids with hydromorphone they wouldn’t be charged with “giving kids in their care hydromorphone”, right?

    If Fred commits murder by putting a bag over his victims head, he isn’t charged with “placing a bag over the victim’s head”. He’s charged with murder.

    These people endangered the safety of the children in their care, by secretly dosing them with psychotropic substances, en masse, and without their parents knowledge, or permission. Their actions endangered those children’s safety, which is what they were arrested for.

    I_Has_A_Hat,

    Why not just give the kids THC, or even LSD? Neither of those can be overdosed on, allergic reactions are extremely rare, and are generally not harmful. So by your logic, they should be A-OK to give to kids without their parents permission. Right?

    SaltySalamander,

    Why not just give the kids THC, or even LSD?

    Those are illegal, both for kids and their parents.

    I wasn't advocating for the daycare workers here. It's not cool to give someone else's kid melatonin without permission. Fairly certain it isn't illegal though, and the fact that these daycare workers weren't charged with it supports my position.

    ShepherdPie,

    Is soy a hormone naturally produced in our bodies?

    blazera,
    @blazera@lemmy.world avatar

    Im saying if someone has a melatonin allergy they’re gonna have a pretty hard time avoiding exposure to it

    alcoholicorn,

    Yeah no they didn’t need to go to the hospital, as a kid I titrated up to 8 pills at once before I decided it didn’t work.

    charles,
    @charles@lemmy.world avatar

    Fussy parents though they may be, 7% of emergency visits is wildly high. Like… How is it possibly that high?

    girlfreddy,
    @girlfreddy@lemmy.ca avatar

    Too much melatonin can cause issues. It can also mess with prescriptions for blood clotting, seizures, birth control, high blood pressure, diabetes and immunosuppressants.

    zeppo,
    @zeppo@lemmy.world avatar

    I read this as melanin and it was even more confusing.

    octopus_ink,

    I can already predict the fox news headline…

    FlyingSquid,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    Having parented a toddler, I can understand the impulse. But you don’t do it.

    NESSI3, (edited )

    .

    FlyingSquid,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    I don’t know that I would ever use it on a kid, but that wasn’t what I was talking about. I was talking about the impulse to drug a kid to calm them down. Pretty much every parent has had that thought at one point or another. But it’s just a silly fantasy you’re not supposed to act on.

    aStonedSanta,

    Yeah. The Bear has an episode where they Xanax the kids on accident. Hilarious but something that should never happen intentionally.

    RGB3x3,

    I let my baby smoke a fat joint to try to get to sleep, but it didn’t work. He just kept wanting to eat and wouldn’t shut up about the federal legalization of marijuana.

    Worst advice I’ve ever gotten.

    FlyingSquid, (edited )
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    True story: My grandmother, who spent a lot of time watching me while my parents worked, used to make wine out of sour cherries she grew in the garden and I had this fond memory of her regularly giving me a bowl of the delicious cherries from the bottom of the wine vat to eat and then one day I realized, “wait a second, those were full of alcohol!” She was clearly doing it to calm me down if I was too hyper.

    She was not the best person.

    SkyezOpen,

    Nap time!

    WindyRebel,

    Ah yes. This and Kidstoned chewable Valium! Works wonders for peace.

    the_crotch,

    Plenty of parents have given their kids whiskey though it’s not as common as it was when I was a kid

    FlyingSquid,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    Sure. But that doesn’t make it something you should do.

    the_crotch,

    I agree. I doubt a doctor would recommend it. People in this thread are.actibg like it’s unheard of though. It’s super common especially during teething.

    girlfreddy,
    @girlfreddy@lemmy.ca avatar

    The FDA and CDC do not recommend melatonin to be given to children under 2 yrs of age tho. So that’s an issue.

    the_crotch,

    I’m sure they don’t recommend jack Daniels either

    BananaOnionJuice,
    @BananaOnionJuice@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

    They are more into Glenlivet.

    NABDad,

    We gave our son children’s Benadryl to get him to sleep, but:

    He was five.

    He couldn’t sleep because he broke his arm earlier that day and we had to wait until the next day to get a cast on it (so the swelling would go down). He just had a splint, so every time he moved, it hurt.

    When we called the ER to ask what to do so he could sleep, they said anything they would do would require him to be admitted, so the best solution was to just give him a dose of children’s Benadryl.

    He was our kid, not someone else’s kid entrusted to our care with the understanding that we wouldn’t drug him.

    forrgott,

    No, this is absolutely terrible advice!

    You, as the parent, make sure the child is currently safe, then give yourself a timeout. No joke! It’s incredibly difficult to destress with an infant around. The moment you are at all tempted by ideas like dosing your kid, it’s time to step away - isolate yourself, recenter, and try a better approach (even if it’s the hundreth time).

    Anyway, I’ve seen multiple statements by qualified professionals about melatonin not being safe for kids. Unless you have sources to back your claim, I completely reject it. That’s just the way it works…

    foggy,

    FDA guidelines on melatonin say to not give it to a child under 3.

    Gigasser, (edited )

    You do know that melatonin can fuck up an adult’s circadian rhythm. Long-term use will probably fuckup a child’s circadian rhythm more, which can affect a lot of things way down the line.

    Edit/Addendum: though this isn’t really the best study, it should still be taken into consideration, especially given how little research has been done www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6362935/

    Scurouno,

    Melatonin is quite commonly used as a sleep aid for children on the autism spectrum, or with ADHD, etc. Disrupted sleep, or insomnia can be a big problem and lead to a greater difficulty for children to handle stress or stimulus and can lead to a lot more meltdowns or difficulties with things they can otherwise handle. We used it regularly with our son (as recommended by a doctor) and it made a world of difference for his sleep and then his ability to handle the next day.

    Empricorn,

    Genuine question: Why do you overwrite most of your comments? There’s no Karma here like on Reddit, and you can just make an anonymous account.

    Empricorn,

    Having seen a toddler before, I also understand wanting to do it.

    MonkderDritte,

    Teens are even louder. 😶

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