Can my child get melatonin for ADHD sleep problems?

Yes, a child with ADHD can be prescribed melatonin for persistent sleep problems, but only after sleep-hygiene measures have been tried and only when started by a specialist such as a paediatrician or CAMHS, not the GP. Melatonin is the hormone that tells the body it is night; the prescribed version helps a child who cannot fall asleep settle closer to a normal bedtime.

The rule: sleep routine first, specialist second

Melatonin sits inside specialist ADHD care, not at the front of it. NICE guidance for ADHD treats sleep as part of the wider management plan, started and reviewed by the specialist team rather than in primary care, and only after the everyday measures have had a fair try. So before any prescription, a clinician will expect you to have worked on the basics and to keep them going alongside the medicine:

• a steady wind-down and a fixed bedtime, every night
• screens off well before bed
• a dark, cool, quiet room
• no caffeine, and care with the timing of any ADHD stimulant medication, which can itself delay sleep

If your child still cannot fall asleep night after night despite all of that, melatonin becomes a reasonable next question to raise with the specialist who looks after your child's ADHD.

Why your GP cannot just prescribe it

This is the part most websites miss. In children, melatonin is specialist-initiation only. A GP cannot start it for your child. The paediatrician or CAMHS prescriber chooses the dose, checks it is working and is safe, and gets it stable first. Only then can the GP take over the repeat prescriptions, and only under a shared-care agreement — a written handover between the specialist and the practice. If your GP has told you they cannot prescribe melatonin, they are right; the request has to go to the specialist. NHS prescribing guidance, such as the melatonin support information from Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB, sets this out, along with planned breaks from the medicine (a “drug holiday”) to check it is still needed.

Licensed product vs the off-label melatonin most children get

Since October 2022 there has been a melatonin product licensed in the UK specifically for sleep problems in children and young people with ADHD, now sold as Adaflex and Slenyto. The licence covers ages 6 to 17 where sleep hygiene on its own has not been enough, and the product information sets out a low starting dose taken half an hour to an hour before bed, increased only if needed.

Even so, in 2026 a lot of melatonin for children is still prescribed off-label — an unlicensed or differently licensed version used at the specialist's clinical judgement. That is lawful and routine, and it is why brands, strengths and whether the tablet is “immediate” or “prolonged-release” can differ between children. It is the prescriber's call, based on your child's sleep pattern, not something to buy or choose yourself.

This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.