Early Wakeup (8yo with ADHD)

[arrh121]

My son (8yo, ADHD) has been doing well with medication (guanfacine ER + atomoxetine) for two years now. He is still moody and impulsive, but overall doing well.

He goes to bed around 8:45pm (he takes a small sliver of a 1mg melatonin gummy, about one-eighth, to help him wind down), typically wakes up early (5-6am) and spends a while either reading, drawing, or riding his bike in our driveway.

In the past two days, however, he's been waking up much earlier, around 3am and is up for the day. He uses the time productively and doesn't seem that underslept, but this seems abnormal. Have others dealt with this issue? We plan to talk to his psychiatrist but were curious if others have dealt with this.

[Alt49]

Somewhat similar thing going on with us. 7 year old used to wake between 7 and 8 and now it’s 5:30-6:30. Unfortunately he does not do productive things. Eats a ton of sweets (I’m going to have to eliminate them from the house) and watches shows he isn’t supposed to. TVs these days have way too much access. When I think I’ve addressed it he figures out another way to watch. Would be interested to hear what your psychiatrist says. I’m getting close to locking him in his room until 7. We don’t hear him wake up. But that’s not helping to build his independence and executive functioning so not really sure what to do.

[arrh121 in reply to Alt49]

We had the TV issue before this, and what we do is to bring the remotes up every night into our room so he can't get to them. We also use a smart router (Eero, but I think most work this way, and at least the prior generation is very cheap) that lets us turn off the internet to certain devices at certain times of day, and we lock up their iPads when not in use. During the day we use parental controls aggressively on all devices and are very careful not to let them ever see us input our PINs.

So if he wakes up early he has access to his Kindle, books, art supplies, bike (and he is at least responsible enough to wear his helmet and stay in our driveway) and that's it. Candy has been an issue but we try to limit what's in the house and fortunately he doesn't have a huge appetite for sweets.

I'm sorry to hear you're going through this too! For what it's worth he was finally exhausted after two nights of too little sleep and he slept until 7:25 this morning.

[AcadiaChip in reply to Alt49]

I have an app on my phone that controls the WIFI. I can pause anything connected to it. Is it possible for you to pause the TV from wifi before you go to bed? You can explain it as the TV is a privilege and until he is responsible enough to follow the TV rules unsupervised, he cannot watch TV unsupervised in the mornings.

[Alt49 in reply to AcadiaChip]

I will look into that. Thanks so much for the tip

[MinnMom]

Could this change in wake-up time have something to do with the switch back from daylight savings to standard time?

[Mamamichl]

what time does he go to bed? My daughter has the opposite issue. She can’t sleep sometimes until after midnight and she’s 10. I work on sleep hygiene. I have trouble waking up in the middle of the night then get back to sleep (it can take hours!). My mind started having thoughts and I get anxiety that keeps me up. What helps me is trazodone.

[Klmamma]

Does he take the guanfacine in the morning or evening?

Also, melatonin could be causing the issue. If they got enough exercise during the day, they should be able to pass right out.

[arrh121 in reply to Klmamma]

He takes his guanfacine in the morning. We sometimes go without melatonin at night but in those cases he'll often stay up really late.