Can Magnesium Help Your Child Sleep Better?

By Dr. Michael Perisa, Zest Pediatrician

You may have heard about magnesium or seen various claims that it may benefit your kid’s sleep pop up in your social media feeds recently. It seems to be a hot craze currently with lots of people discussing the topic. So what’s it all about?  Should I be supplementing my kid? Will it help them sleep better? If so, do magnesium lotions or oils work for this too? To begin, we need to understand more about magnesium and where these claims may have originated.

Magnesium is a mineral obtained through dietary sources and is needed for numerous bodily functions involved in energy production, stress response, and metabolism as well as to ensure adequate bone health. Recommended daily amounts of magnesium range from 30 mg a day for babies up to 6 months of age to 130 mg for those up to 8 years old.

Magnesium can be found in a variety of plant and animal products as well as in certain cereals and beverages. Grean leafy vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and other fiber containing foods are good dietary sources of magnesium (for example, a banana provides around 37 mg of magnesium, or 2 tablespoons of peanut butter would provide around 49 mg).

Consuming levels of magnesium from your diet in higher than recommend daily amounts does not pose a risk in healthy individuals as the kidneys would simply get rid of the excess amounts in the urine. However, giving magnesium supplements in higher than recommended levels can often result in an upset stomach, bloating, or diarrhea.

So What about Sleep? How magnesium interacts with sleep is not well understood but there is some observational data in adults associating higher levels of magnesium with improved sleep. The exact mechanism for this association isn’t well known.1

With this association in adults, some have proposed using magnesium lotion or spray for children to help them sleep better. Unfortunately, there is not any direct benefit of magnesium lotion or spray for sleep in babies or children. Most healthy children, unless eating a very restricted diet, are going to get the recommended amounts of magnesium from the foods they eat. Additionally, the association between improved sleep with higher blood levels of magnesium in adults hasn’t been well studied or proven in children.

Even if there was an association in children between higher levels of blood magnesium and improved sleep, magnesium isn’t absorbed well through the skin so topical application with magnesium lotions or sprays is unlikely to increase blood levels.2

Topical magnesium likely is safe to use, however, anything applied topically to younger children may cause some localized skin irritation or reaction.

What about magnesium gummies to help older toddlers and young kids sleep better--is this safe?  Magnesium supplements taken at an appropriate dose are likely safe but not needed if a child does not have a very restrictive diet. Again, most children obtain their daily magnesium needs simply through the food they eat. However, given the association between increased magnesium levels and better sleep in adults (again studies in children supporting this association are lacking), if a child were to truly be deficient in magnesium, adding magnesium supplementation in these children could potentially help with sleep.

What other topical or oral products can help babies and toddlers sleep better? Before digging into some of the supplements and products suggested to assist with sleep, it should be noted that the most effective sleep aid is good sleep hygiene practices. These include:

·      Limit screentime prior to bed

·      Ensure the room is as dark as tolerated (except for a possible nightlight) and on the cooler side

·      Consider using white noise

·      Follow a consistent bedtime routine every night, even on weekends (for my children this is potty, brush teeth, change into PJs, read books, sing songs, lights out). Having a consistent routine allows your child’s body to get the signals that it’s nearing bedtime and time to start winding down.

·      For babies, put your child down when they are drowsy and not fully asleep. This allows them to get practice in self-soothing which they will continue to improve as they grow and can use when they wake up overnight (nighttime awakenings are normal for young children and babies).

Melatonin is probably one of the most common supplements used by parents trying to help improve their child’s sleep. Melatonin is a hormone naturally produced in our brains that gets released when our eyes detect less light around us. Melatonin can play a role to help with sleep in some children with neurodevelopmental conditions or for helping short term to reset a sleep clock such as when traveling across time zones.

Melatonin is usually not recommended for long term use. If planning to try melatonin, please ensure that you are purchasing from a reputable brand. The issue with melatonin and other supplements is that they aren’t regulated as strictly by the FDA since they are dietary supplements and not medications. So often the dose advertised on the packaging might not be the amount that’s in each dose.

There are some other products that have been suggested to help with a child’s sleep, but the data is lacking and some come with safety concerns. 

The American Academy of Pediatrics and other organizations recommend against the use of weighted blankets and swaddles as the pose an increased risk for possible suffocation or SUID (sudden unexplained infant death, formerly known as SIDS).

Chamomile is often consumed in teas; data is unfortunately lacking to suggest benefits might be seen with use for sleep.

Bedtime yoga for kids has been shown in several studies to improve sleep. Simply google bedtime yoga for kids and see the poses shown to improve sleep. And, of course, you will do it with your kids and improve your sleep too! Bonus.

Sources:

1.        Arab A, Rafie N, Amani R, Shirani F. The Role of Magnesium in Sleep Health: a Systematic Review of Available Literature. Biol Trace Elem Res. 2023 Jan;201(1):121-128. doi: 10.1007/s12011-022-03162-1. Epub 2022 Feb 19. PMID: 35184264.

2.        Gröber U, Werner T, Vormann J, Kisters K. Myth or Reality-Transdermal Magnesium? Nutrients. 2017 Jul 28;9(8):813. doi: 10.3390/nu9080813. PMID: 28788060; PMCID: PMC5579607.