This is all good advice, and I hope that my giving him the clonidine earlier will help both morning and night. He has always been defiant after the daytime meds wear off (he started on ritalin liquid, then ritalin pills, then daytrana, and now vyvanse). When he first started the clonidine I gave it to him right after school, and that made him like a zombie all evening, so later was a definite. I'm seeing that maybe giving it an hour before bedtime is my best bet.
Hope it works for you. The fighting and spanking has got to stop. Try giving a small dose of Melatonin if not it puts them right out 20 min or so,but the fighting needs to end. He IS feeding off this and you cannot let him. I agree a strict routine is also important and you might want to talk to the docs about the vyvanse keeping him up.Maybe he would do better on a medication that is not as long acting as the vyvance? I have my son go in his room an hour before (when he went to bed at 7:30 an half hour) his actual bedtime. This helps him transition to bed. It does have to be a routine at bedtime and the fighting makes your son more likely to not go to sleep easily because it is stimulating him. If my son doesn't go to sleep by a certain time he looses privilages in the morning.My first conern is that the Vyvanse is keeping him awake. did he always give you a hard time at bedtime or is new since the Vyvanse?
If he's always done this, the fighting has to stop. It exacerbates the whole situation and your son is feeding off that. Actually no matter what the fighting has to stop. Bedtime, in my opinion, is non negotiable. Do not fight with him over this. If his bedtime is 8:00 then he should have already done the beditme routine before that, it's helpful to have the same routine every night. So for example, after dinner, he has a bath then a story or a little tv time then bed. Every night. Children with ADHD especially THRIVE on routine. If you bring him to his room and he asys no, calmly tell him this is not being discussed anymore it is bedtime and leave the room. If he comes out, walk him back in (without talking) and put him back to bed. You may have to do this several times espeically the first few nights. He will get it that you mean business and he;s not going to get you all riled up, if you dont let him. Trust me, it works. I have a 5 year old also and her bedtime is 7:30 and she goes at 7:30 no matter what. We have the sme basic rouitne every night and even the nights she decides to try to fight me, saying I'm not tired or whatever, I can now just say, it's 7:30, decide we do the bathroom routine and 5 minutes of Daddy laying in bed with you, or straight to bed, your choice and she now knows she has no other option, she always picks bathroom ritual with Mommy and lay down in bed with Daddy.
What dosage of Clonidine is your son on? My five year is also on Clonodine to help him sleep. I have found it helpful to give it earlier, about 1 1/2 hours before bedtime. I guess it just takes longer to kick in for him. We take .1, mg and then I can give another half if he needs it. Some nights he still has trouble falling asleep, but these are rare now. We couldn't use Benadryl, it would have the opposite effect on him.
Hope this helps.
Our children are precious in His sight.
I think he is not getting enough sleep. Maybe put him to bed earlier and certainly don't wake him up. You probably just need to figure out how much sleep he needs before he wakes up naturally. Maybe the clonidine rx is too high? Or perhaps you could substitute melatonin (from the grocery store). I would focus on the sleep. My son is HORRID without enough sleep. Different boy entirely.My 5 y/o son is on 30 mg of Vyvanse in the morning, and was having sleep problems, so the dr put him on Clonodine at night. We have struggles in the morning with him going to school, so I started waking him up earlier to give him his meds and give plenty of time for him to get ready and deal with the struggles. Main problem now is in the evenings. Getting him to go to bed is a huge struggle. I've tried letting him know he has 5 more minutes and sometimes that works, but then he'll bargain for more time. Mainly if he doesn't get his way, he'll start back talking and flat out say "no". We've been trying the marbles thing, which works occasionally, but not enough. Everytime I threated to put marbles in the "bad jar", he'll kick and scream til he has tons of marbles in the jar and by that time, I'm ready to pull my hair out and spank the living daylights out of him. He looks almost demonic when he has these fits, and it scares me. My husband and I are starting to argue more because we can't agree on what to do. I tend to be a bit of a pushover and give in just for the sake of avoiding these fights, whereas my husband will spank my son expecting that to draw an immediate response. Our marriage is taking a toll from this and we're both exhausted. Please help!My son is on the .1 dosage of Clonodine cause my dr didn't want to try melatonin on him, not knowing how it would affect a 5 y/o of his size. (he's really small for his age). We have the same routine every night, no deviation. He has a little tv time, then we tell him he has 5 more minutes and then it's time to get ready for bed. He'll say ok, but when 5 minutes has passed (we use an egg timer so he can see), that's when he gets angry and tries to bargain. Once we do get him to head upstairs, he takes his sweet time with the bedtime routine. He decides he wants to wash the sink when he's supposed to be brushing his teeth, or anything to stall the process. Last night I gave him the Clonodine at 6 instead of 7 and I think it may have helped. He actually seems somewhat agreeable this morning. Perhaps I may have found a solution, we shall see. I'm hoping this isn't a fluke. [QUOTE=catwade78]My 5 y/o son is on 30 mg of Vyvanse in the morning, and was having sleep problems, so the dr put him on Clonodine at night. We have struggles in the morning with him going to school, so I started waking him up earlier to give him his meds and give plenty of time for him to get ready and deal with the struggles. Main problem now is in the evenings. Getting him to go to bed is a huge struggle. I've tried letting him know he has 5 more minutes and sometimes that works, but then he'll bargain for more time. Mainly if he doesn't get his way, he'll start back talking and flat out say "no".