My kid on Ritalin is having trouble sleeping

[Mommywarrior4LC]

my son’s psychiatrist added a second dose of Ritalin to be given at noon when he’s at school and now he’s having a harder time falling asleep. I’m wondering if any of the parents here have tried giving their children natural remedies for sleep? I’ve tried melatonin gummies but it doesn’t work. Any suggestions?

[Alt49]

same issue here so following along to see what people recommend.

[Onthemove1971]

Thanks for bring the question up to the group. If I were in your shoes I would speak to the

psychiatrist about this.

It would be important to learn if this is normal issues with sleeping or related to the medication. They will most likey ask questions about if the issue is: getting to sleep, staying asleep or waking up. There is a lot connected to medication and the psychiatrist could make recommendations like starting the medication 1 hour early or changing the dose.

You did not say how old your son is but kids in a certain age can naturally start changing their sleep patterns.

There are many tools that could help in general with sleep: warm bath with magnisium, weighted blanket, fan, "white noise"- quiet sound, ear plugs, etc..

Hope you find the answers you need.

[AddyVenture]

I wish I knew the answer! I am in a similar boat. My son has had sleep issues since the day he was born 11 years ago. Over the years, always it was blamed on me, and I was judged for my son staying up later than socially acceptable. Two years ago he was diagnosed with ADHD but I know he also has ASD. Concerta kept him awake 24/7. Now he’s been on methylphenidate for over a year. He still has trouble with his sleep schedule. The doctor turned it back on me and said the problem was screen time. I feel like screen time is codeword, for we can’t help you, we don’t want to help you, or we’re going to blame you. It just depends on who is saying the codeword what their intent is. I limited screen time using parental controls on his computer and phone so that he definitely can’t use it between midnight and 7 AM. Pretty liberal of me in my opinion, but my son is belligerent about it. It’s disrupting our lives that he wants to have a sleep schedule of 6 AM until 3 PM. I’m a single mom in a state where I only know one other person. His dad is uninvolved and that’s fine because he’s scary too. I’m dealing with my own diagnosis and trying to keep us alive with almost no resources. I keep getting feedback that amounts to me intensively parenting, which I would love to do if I had enough money to not do anything else or someone to help clean the house. I went through something similar with my oldest who is now 34. The doctors had diagnosed him bipolar, but now I believe that was the wrong diagnosis. His meds made him drowsy, so they gave him something to wake him up, then made him unable to sleep, which then they gave him some to help him sleep, and I don’t think it was healthy.

Going back to the youngest, the worst part of all is, he does not seem cooperative, and I’m having a hard time, telling how much of it is unintentional because of the ADHD, and how much of it is rebellion or apathy. Two nights in a row. He has stayed up all night, but tried to pretend he was sleeping, but he kept waking me up. When I confronted him in the most general way, I could about it, he lied and said he had slept, but I know he didn’t. Then he starts crying and then I feel terrible and right after that he falls asleep. I think, adding more exercise and activity during the day would be ideal as well as more activities involving other kids, considering we don’t have any neighbors for him to hang out with. The problem is doing these things would mean even more of my time devoted to him, and I don’t know how I would do the other things that pay the bills, so I am totally between a rock and a hard place.

So like the other commenter, I’m actually following this because I’m praying someone will have some ideas. I feel like I’m watching my son’s self-destruct before my eyes and he is helpless stop it and so am I. I know that sounds extreme to say that, but these issues run in my family and I know how it played out for others, including me. The only difference now is we have someone who is actually been diagnosed so we don’t want to wonder why he has these behaviors.

[anirush]

We used Melatonin for awhile but it was giving my grandson nightmares. His psychiatrist said that is a common side effect. We now use Valerian Root. So far so good.

[Kyhlee]

We give magnesium in the evening. Helps many things, including relaxation for sleep for our guy. (Actually, I take it too…most people are deficient). Ask your dr.

[intentionalme]

I use the mel-o-chews (not gummies) maxi strength for my son. He also gets Ritalin at noon during school and has trouble going to sleep at night. I give him 3 (per the Dr). It helps. I also started him having to wind down earlier to help quiet his mind before bed. And made his bed time a bit earlier to give him more time to get to sleep and still have enough sleep. These things don't avoid an " I'm having trouble falling to sleep" discussion every night but most nights it does.

Hope you figure out something that helps.