ADHD. Do you have to drain your child's battery?

[TryingTheBestICan]

DS is 6. He's being assessed for ADHD and ASD. Runs in my family. Put him to bed an hour ago. He's still going strong. Just not tired. I'm exhausted. We had a really chilled day (aka went for a walk and stayed at home). We usually have to spend a good 5 or 6 hours at least a day doing physical activity or he just won't sleep. I'm not lying when I say he functions on 3 hours of sleep some days. I'm so, so shattered. I'm applying for DLA but not really sure how it will help (though anything would be amazing!). Is anyone else's child like this?

My 6 yo DS with suspected ADHD quite frequently doesn't drop off until 9.30, sometimes 10.30, and won't be left alone until he falls asleep. It's extremely challenging, solidarity to all!

What dose do you give your child of melatonin? Youngest DC is prescribed two mgs but has suddenly developed a fear of swallowing tablets. The tablets are minuscule.

It is so hard 😫. DS has ADHD and will stay awake bouncing around the room until the early hours and still get up and in the shower before 6 sometimes. Then he will collaspe exhausted after school.
Other days I've gone in to wake him up in the morning and he has rearranged his whole bedroom overnight.
We always said we would not medicate until he requested medication himself, but now the waiting list is so long for reassessment he will probably have left school before he is seen.
Now he is older we have given him weights to work on which burns a bit of energy.

I strongly recommend treatment for retained reflexes/neuro development delay.

The only practitioner I can personally recommend is Bob Allen based in Windsor & Petersfield

www.accesspotential.net

He was a life saver for my non-sleeping needing child.

There are other organisations/practitioners. INPP.org charge ridiculous amounts of money for all sorts of unnecessary baseline tests plus they don't treat for retained Moro reflex which tends to the be the one that impacts on sleep the most.

I’m Canadian but ours here are mostly gummies for children. Do they have anything like that back in the UK?

Where do you get the melatonin gummies from? PM if you don’t want to post. It’s also full moon which always makes it worse here. Yes to the 2hr+ routine every night, yoga helps DD but needs fresh air daily has ASD diagnosis but has all the markers for adhd but she’s not in school so can’t get assessed. Other child no diagnosis but does a lot of sport and competes nationally never slept much as a baby took years to slept through but now a teenager regulates herself via a heck of a lot of sport training.

At that age what sport can you start channelling the excess energy into? Gymnastics can be good in the right club the discipline but focused exercises can really help or swimming club or martial arts. We use audio books a lot as can listen to them whilst rolling around doing stretches and exercises in bedroom.

If someone could also send me the link for melatonin gummies I’d be very grateful.

9 year old DD currently awaiting autism assessment who just cannot go to sleep.

2 mg tablets here, too. I think you can get it in liquid form, though we haven’t tried.

Not sure why my comment has been hidden?

I was asking for advice on gummies to help my daughter sleep?

He often wakes up every hour throughout the night. I'm exhausted. I don't know how he lives on so little sleep. He never falls asleep at school in the day but does at home, especially if we have ti drive anywhere. Will look into melatonin.

My DD has inattentive ADHD, so isn't hyperactive. But her brain buzzes and this gets worse with the emptiness of bedtime. One of us has to stay in her room until she is asleep, as she otherwise just comes out. While we stay with her she regularly comes up with really interesting questions. I don't think it's deliberately to avoid sleep, but it does have that impact. I find myself halfway through answering her question, before realising that she's meant to be quiet and going to sleep.

DH thinks he has similar ADHD and really struggles to get to sleep.

S slept 2 in 24 hours u get use to it, and even in his 30’s doesn’t sleep more than 4 hours.

Melatonin has to be prescribed in this country.

I know plenty of people who have purchased the gummies online though. It is treated like a health supplement in other countries.

No judgement here if that’s a route you go down. I tried one my sister brought back from holiday for DD. (Was 1mg so smallest dose) she woke up a different kid after having some sleep!

I will definitely be speaking to the doctor about it.

Unlikely to get it if not diagnosed

I have ADHD and recently diagnosed with ADHD, as a child I was similar & used to still be awake by the time my mum was going to bed. She put a little lamp in my room snd I could read as much as I wanted until I was tired

Both my children are suspected ND.DD for asd/adhd and DS for ADHD

DD struggles more than DS. With both of mine I've started giving them a big bowl of porridge just before bed and that has made a massive difference ( I dont know why, but if any of us eat a "big" meal we all get really sleepy )

Bath in the dark with sensory lights/ white noise
Electric blanket on
Tummy full of porridge
Books if cant sleep

Meant I have ADHD and recently diagnosed with ASD 🤦‍♀️😅

DD (10) is AuDHD. She needs a lot of exercise but it's a balancing act because she also gets more hyper when she's overtired.

I'm sure you already do all the usual tricks but good sleep hygiene helps, we scrape by without needing melatonin at the moment. She listens to audiobooks in bed to help her switch off

I’m not well. Dd has a lot of energy, and at 16 she still has more energy than any boy or girl, in her friendship group. I am the complete opposite and have do chronic fatigue so I was unable to give her the physical stimulation she needed. I took her to a lot of sporting activities after school. She does / did sleep with activity so didn’t have the same issues as you.

To wear her out, when she wasn’t doing her after school activites, we used to play PE a lot. I’d sit there and give her tasks to do. Eg crawl around the room in a circle 4 times, hop forwards or backwards, walk with really big strides, run there and back between point a and b 5 times, do 20 star jumps etc etc.

Ds8, ASD and ADHD undiagnosed.
He isn't a bad sleeper to be fair but he does take longer to go to sleep and wakes early.

Very very active all day as previous posters have said also running around the rooms practicing backflips, and headstands. Keep his week busy with gymnastics and parkour club (NOT my idea)

He goes to bed on school nights at 9 after 1hr of reading time which I find calms him. sometimes he just talks to himself and laughs for about 30mins before drifting off. Audiobooks really help too. He has a playlist of Dr Seuss books, all the rhyming ones that he recites...this also sends him off to sleep.

I've never stayed in his room till he slept, and we have strict rules about calling out or getting out of bed for anything other than the loo or illness so he knows not to disrupt us

As @Miguelo says, it's not that hard to get hold of either online or when you are in France. It was in fact recommended by DD's paediatrician but who said that it was easier just to order online than to get it as a prescription.

I'm in the UK, as far as I'm aware you cannot get it over here unless a doctor prescribes it. You can get gummies ect online but their not the same as what the doctor can prescribe

Has you DC learned to ride a bike yet @TryingTheBestICan ? It may help him to use more energy than you when out on walks because he can ride off and come back again. My DC used to run the length of the living room and up and down the stairs too to get more exercise, but our stairs aren't next to neighbours so ther was only us to tolerate the noise. Maybe a punchbag for indoors exercise?