Sleep

[dadwithquestions456]

Hello. Curious how much sleep others children get. My 13 year old is only averaging about 6.5 hrs a night. This of course makes me wonder if that has something to do with her anxiety. And then I wonder if the lack of sleep came before or after her medication. Thanks for any responses, 6.5 seems really low for her age, but curious how much others are getting. My numbers are from a fitbit, btw.

[ADHD_DAD]

If she has trouble falling asleep, try giving meds first thing in the morning. We basically wake him up the meds on school days. He's 17 and gets about 7 hours on school days. Sleeps late on weekends and catches up. As a younger child, he got much more,but not now.

[dadwithquestions456 in reply to ADHD_DAD]

Thank you for the reply. What do you think his average is for a week? My daughter is like 5.5-7.5 per day so it averaged to the 6.5.

[ADHD_DAD in reply to dadwithquestions456]

I don't know. Maybe 7 per day. You could try melatonin right before bed. Stopping screens at a set time (like 9pm) helps since the light makes falling asleep harder. At the very least, maybe she could use a strong blue light filter after 7pm. If all else falls, try Benedryl. Only real side effect is drowsiness (but I suspect that won't bother you). Sleep is elusive for many of us. Good luck to you.

[dadwithquestions456 in reply to ADHD_DAD]

Yes I have some ideas I'm going to work on. I wish I knew if it's causing real problems for her. Her behavior can be so erratic, I'm trying to figure out why.

[Onthemove1971]

Our son goes to bed at 9:30pm and wakes up at 7am most days. He does say he wakes up at least 1x to use the bathroom. When we travel he takes melatonin but only on weekends and not every weekend.

[dadwithquestions456 in reply to Onthemove1971]

Sounds like he is getting good sleep. I really think my daughter needs more, not sure how to handle it though.

[Smfdaisy]

My daughter is 10 and has started going to sleep later than I would like— I think the stimulant she takes is keeping her up for about an hour after her regular bedtime. On the days when she’s not going to school, I let her sleep until she naturally wakes, which helps. Do you know where the sleep deficits are happening with your daughter? Is she having trouble falling asleep, or staying asleep? Does she wake in the middle of the night? Does she have a cut-off time for screens? Is her room dark in the morning? Some people have a hard time sleeping without total darkness. Maybe start with pinpointing what’s causing her to get less sleep. Good luck!

[dadwithquestions456 in reply to Smfdaisy]

How much sleep a night do you think your daughter gets?

[Smfdaisy in reply to dadwithquestions456]

she usually falls asleep around 10 or 10:30 and she sleeps until 7/7:30 on school days and 8/8:30 on non-school days. She needs a LOT of wind-down time before she sleeps.

[Imakecutebabies]

My son is only 6 so not worth comparing sleep, but he did have trouble falling asleep at night until we moved his guanfacine earlier in the day, and he still has trouble waking up on school days.

[UncleMuscles]

Here’s an infographic about sleep that I got from a school. I know it stops at age 12 but maybe you can extrapolate.

From what I’ve read by Nigg, Joel, Ph.d, “Getting Ahead of ADHD: What Next-Generation Science Says about Treatments That Work - and How You Can Make Them Work for Your Child” (Guilford Publications, 2017), diet, exercise, and sleep especially are all still critical at your child’s age - and her newfound teenage autonomy will surely get in the way of it. The book is full of helpful tips on making sleep work.

Best of luck to you!

Bedtimes Infographic, by Age

[penn_adhd]

My 9 y/o typically sleeps from 8:30-5:30 maybe 6:30 if he stays up a bit. He gets his meds at 7:30 AM.

[AnxiousMom99]

my 13 y.o son also averages about 6 hours he is not on medication he doesn’t like melatonin. Sometimes if he gets up he will make chamomile tea and try to go back to sleep. He doesn’t like not sleeping bc he says he’s tired during school. I find that if he gets some physical activity after school he will sleep better. Also I’m going to start theanine at night to see how that goes. You are not alone!! Good luck! Try calm gummies they are magnesium and they help too