ADHD parents please help! Sleep issues!

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DD - 4.5 years old. Suspected ADHD but too young for diagnosis

please help, what on earth do I do with this child at bedtime?? She just won’t settle for over an hour, she plays up so badly every single night and does not care at all because there’s nothing I can take away or any consequences I can really give.

I’ve tried:

• later bedtime (she’s overtired and is worse and then won’t get up the next morning)
• earlier bedtime (under tired so obviously worse)
• white noise
• lullabies
• audio stories
• complete darkness
• leaving her
• staying with her
• a bedtime routine checklist
• a Now Next board
• A calming bedtime routine
• running her absolutely ragged after dinner to burn remaining energy
• night light

nothing works. She’s impossible to settle, she shares a room with her younger brother out of necessity so I can’t just leave her to eventually wear herself out because she wakes him. She has a colour changing clock which she fully understands.

she’s okay through the night (mostly) but friends have said my only option is to push the GP for melatonin but medicating her seems extreme and I don’t think it’s so easy to get it prescribed.

does anyone have tips that worked specifically for an ADHD child?

(I want to try a weighted blanket but have to wait until their bedroom isn’t regularly 27 - 30 degrees every night

Melatonin did not work on my adhd child.

weighted blanket was helpful but as you say it is currently too warm for this.

we left her to tire herself out. Listening to stories on her own player. Sorry that won’t work for you.

What time is she getting up in the morning and is she difficult to get up?

Mine's a bit older now. GPs don't generally prescribe melatonin, it's quite hard to get prescribed.

The main thing we do is not letting DD sleep in at weekends. But I'd say her natural body clock is about 26 hours long.

Not that much help, sorry.

I have 7 year old twins with suspected ND. This sleep issue never improved. Our house is an absolute battle ground every single night. One worse than the other with trashing her room and screaming for over an hour.

I literally begged for several years to get a melatonin prescription. Begging finally worked last summer and they were referred to Paediatrician. Then to the sleep clinic. Took about 10 months and finally we have a 3 month trial of melatonin. It has been amazing. They take it an hour before bed and are asleep within 10 minutes of head hitting the pillow. It has honestly been a lifesaver because our mental health has been at rock bottom due to their relentless behaviour.

Im praying we can continue the melatonin. You might have to beg for it but it’s definitely worth a try. FWIW, melatonin is a natural hormone, not a drug.

Thank you for the responses.

she wakes between 6-7 am typically and she’ll only want to lay in until around 7.30am so not late but we have to leave the house at that time for nursery/work so she doesn’t want to wake when she’s refused bedtime for so long.

yes unfortunately the only thing I cannot do is leave her to work it out, one day hopefully when we have a bigger house and they can have their own rooms.

im not surprised to hear it’s not easy to get the prescription, she’s the type of child where a new method will work at first, like Audio books seemed to help her calm as she had something to listen to but it worked for a few days at best.

she hasn’t napped since before age 2, and is always busy and full on. We even got an annual pass to our local soft play centre so we could go in the evenings if she hadn’t been busy enough in the day!

I just feel I’m the wrong person for her, I don’t understand her enough to know what she needs, I’m trying but nothing seems to work.