Parents in Maine have been outraged to learn that a local daycare has been giving their children daily sleeping pills without their knowledge or consent, they claim.
Apple Blossom Childcare in Falmouth, Maine, was investigated last year over allegations of abuse, neglect and licensing violations at the center – which were later proved to be true in December.
The incident is one of a growing number in which day care staff are giving non-prescription drugs such as melatonin without parental permission.
A police investigation was recently launched in Minnesota over alleged distribution of gummies to children, and last year two teachers were suspended from a school in Texas, after children were reportedly given special “stickers” to help them sleep.
According to the Maine government, it is legal for day care centers to give children melatonin or other nonprescription medications, but parental consent is required.
Laura Putnam, who enrolled her children at Apple Blossom Childcare when they were aged one and two, said she had not given permission, nor had been asked about whether they could receive sleep supplements.
Putnam told NBC that she had learned from a former employee of the center in August last year, that he and others had given melatonin gummies to children, including her older son, who had been four years old at the time.
When she asked her son about it, she told the outlet, “he said, ‘Oh, it makes the babies go’ – and then he made a snoring sound.” She added: “He told me he got them when he was younger and they made him very sleepy. And then I asked if his younger brother got them, and he looked at me and said, ‘Yes.’
“I said, ‘How often does he get them?’ And he said, ‘Every day.’”
Following a complaint, Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services launched an investigation into the center. Putnam told NBC that four months later the agency informed her that her older son was “a victim of abuse/neglect.”
“I think I felt that, you know, I let my kids down,” she said. “Anyone who is a parent, your No. 1 job is to protect your kids above all else. And getting that letter that said my son has been named on the record as a victim of abuse slash neglect, I feel like I let him down.”
Apple Blossom’s owner, Alison Lakin, appealed the December findings and said there was “insufficient evidence” to support them.
Putnam added: “How is giving a nonverbal toddler melatonin in the middle of the day without parental consent not abuse or neglect? It doesn’t make any sense in my mind.”
Last month, in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, police investigated reports that a teacher was distributing gummies to children at Jardin Spanish Immersion Academy. According to KARE 11, parents said their children told them the teacher had told them to keep the gummies a secret and that the children were sleepier than usual.
A search warrant obtained by the outlet stated that the teacher later told officers that he had given the children Fruit Snacks, not melatonin. Video allegedly showed the man taking something out of his pocket and giving it to a child, who ate it.
The educator has been put on administrative leave, but the case is still under investigation and no charges have been filed.
In September 2024, two teachers were suspended from a Texas elementary school after allegedly giving students special “stickers” to make them sleep. Parents at the school claimed they were only formally notified about the investigation two weeks after the alleged incident occurred.
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