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Writer's pictureLovely Little Things

Why I Chose Tart Cherry Over Melatonin.

Anytime your child suffers from an ailment or disorder always discuss your options with their doctor. Including the use of supplements,oils,and diet changes.




There was a time when Shay didn't sleep very much. It started around 12 months. It was an every night occurrence. She would fall asleep a few hours then wake up and stay up all night.

We averaged about six hours of sleep every twenty-four hours. It wasn't even six hours straight. It was a few here and there. I was a walking zombie. She was an over energized ticking time bomb. The less sleep she got the more energy she seemed to have . We were missing therapies and appointments. Her therapists would even find it humorous when I would say "Shay slept until 3 am last night."I felt so exhausted and helpless. I was always waiting for her to just fall asleep. All my googling and internet searching for an answer pointed to using melatonin. It wasn't really recommended for a child her age. Her pediatrician wasn't really on cue with what we was dealing with. This went on for months. Shay was put on a waiting for her diagnosis so at this point we weren't even sure what was going on with her. I even considered taking her to the emergency room at one point demanding they figure out something. The reasonable side of myself thought they will think me completely crazy coming in with a fifteen month old baby claiming it never sleeps. Her pediatrician even blew off most of our concerns . So my internet searching turned to something on melatonin being used at her age. I was desperate by this time. I ran across a study conducted by Cambridge University about the effects of using melatonin at a young age for children and what happened in the long run. So basically the study says using melatonin in children causes their body to not be able to produce it's own later. So this was definitely a no go for me. I was barely hanging on as it was . I could not be in the long run of never sleeping. My only choice was to wait it out . I mean eventually she would sleep. Right?


Shay had an occupational therapist that came on as part of her therapy through early intervention. She was amazing. She knew tons of info about things . I knew nothing about . She had worked in the field of early development with children for a long time. She was the one who suggested using tart cherry juice. I immediately began researching this. Not only could it possibly help her sleep better it had a ton of other health benefits.


Tart Cherry Benefits

Antioxidants- Its loaded with anthocyanins which are antioxidants. So it promotes healthy cells by slowing down damage caused by free radicals. Antioxidants may have antimicrobial properties which can boost immunity.

A study was done of brain improvement related to Alzheimer and dementia. Here

Sleep benefits- Not only does it boost your body to produce melatonin combined with the antioxidants it extends the benefits of it. Here

Other benefits include urinary and gastroenterology.

Tart cherry is known to have drug interactions so as always discuss your options with a doctor. There hasn't been enough studies done on tart cherry to support any of the benefit claims.


My research came back with a gummy but Shay couldn't eat gummies so we made a jello.

So does it work. The answer is. Yes, it worked for us. She went from sleeping the average of six hours or less every twenty-four hours to sleeping a full eight at night and still taking a two hour nap.

Just note eating to much of this will cause diarrhea.



Walmart carries this brand at an affordable price.


Sleepy Jello Recipes


Cherry Raspberry


1 cherry jello

1 raspberry jello

2 cups of tart juice

1 cup of water

Boil water and add to jello to dissolve. Pour in tart cherry juice. Pour in 8x8 refrigerate to set.

Cut into little squares. About 1 oz. Eat one to two squares a day.

We give her a little square at lunch and dinner.


Fruit Punch


1 pineapple jello

1 orange jello

2 cups tart cherry juice

1 cup boiling water

Boil water and add to jello to dissolve. Pour in tart cherry juice. Pour in 8x8 refrigerate to set.

Cut into little squares. About 1 oz. Eat one to two squares a day.

We give her a little square at lunch and dinner.











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