As a kid, my parents gave me melatonin/Benadryl to put me down. How common is this?

My gran gave my mum opium.

It's not normal

I could maybe see parents giving melatonin to the kid, but only if the doctor agree with it. I think it's odd to give a child benadryl. If they didn't consult with a doctor about it then it's definitely weird and very selfish.

Edit: Did they ever even try to find out the root of what they considered problematic? If not, neglecting to find the reason is another to layer to the selfish behavior imo.

I never did this, if my daughter was too hyper or acting out I applied my hand to the seat of the problem. She usually slept well after that.

I looked it up and both aren't advised. Benadryl isn't recommended as a sleep aid for children. Because of this there is no recommended dose for sleep so your parents were just recklessly drugging you. Melatonin isn't regulated by the FDA so the dosages can vary. There have been cases reported of melatonin overdoses in children. The point is you shouldn't medicate children without consulting a doctor. Your parents are very fortunate that your long-term health wasn't negatively affected.

Edit: I just saw that your parents are doctors. That's besides the point because doctors are advised against treating their own family members. You should've been under the care of another physician. They knew what they were doing was unethical. It's a violation of HIPPA that in this day and age if exposed on social media would get their licence to practise revoked. It would also trigger a CPS investigation and possible allegations of child abuse. One viral tiktok and their lives would be shattered.

My parents wouldn't have dreamed of giving those to me, and I would have never done that to my own kids. That's just not a cool thing to do.

Drugging your kids isn't normal. I started seeing that stuff marketed towards kids in the last 10 years. I think it's ridiculous. We were sent outside to play and wear ourselves out when we were kids.

I know people who rubbed whiskey on their kids' gums to settle them down.

It seems like a cop-out.

I imagine they were simply exhausted themselves like all parents are at times but that's a bad solution.