my ds is going to be 7 next month. he is on vyvanse 30 mg. one of the problems im having right now is getting him to sleep at a decent time and eating. he takes his med about 7am and he starts getting hungry around 6 or 7pm (he does eat pretty close to normal at reg meal times) but in the evening its like he is starving!! i try to put him and his 2 yo brother in there rooms at 7pm in hopes that they will be asleep by atleast 8 or 8:30. i stay in the room with them since ds meds wear off and he is pretty wild. they are in bunk beds so its hard to get him to stop moving all around and acting nuts on the top bunk. so any way i give him some food before we go to bed. pretty much whatever he wants to eat. a sandwhich, or oatmeal, bowl of cheese crackers, cereal ect. then he is ok until little brother goes to bed and then he starts saying he is hungry again around 9pm. the problem is that i cant keep making food this late b/c i have to get up at 5am for work and im preg so ive been exhausted and ready for bed and i dont want his body to be used to having food this late and have to eat at this time everyday. school starts on monday and i would like for him to be asleep before 9pm. i feel like if he keeps staying up this late he will be so tired at school and get wore out by the end of the week. we have been getting him up earlier to take his meds but he still seems to go to bed and be hungry at the same times. i also dont want him to lose anymore weight. he is already really skinny and has lost 3 lbs since we started meds (concerta) dont know how the vyvanse will affect his weight yet as he has only been on it for a week or 2. yesterday i bought that carnation instant breakfast and made it with whole milk and let him have it with food at 7pm. he said he was really full but then again at 9 he says he is hungry. should i just have him go to bed? is there something i can give him so he isnt starving and actually gets full and goes to bed. also any ideas on getting to bed earlier??? sorry this is long but i wanted to explain it all. thanks for listening!!

kim

i dont know if he would be able to go back to bed. also i try to get him to eat breakfast first before he takes his pill. maybe we could see if it affects his breakfast at all if we give him the pill 1st. we actually have to wake him up at 6 or 7 otherwise he will sleep until 9 and that would really mess up the schedule even more. im guessing at some point we will have to get him up earlier if we cant get him to bed on time and eating enough b/c school is here now. as we speak i have given him 2 peices of pizza and the instant breakfast and told him he could take a bag of mini muffins in his room. hope this holds him tonight! thanks for the advice! keep it coming!! it helps us so much!!

kim

I would try the pill at 5:00 or 5:30 since you're up anyway. My daughter takes her pill this early and barely wakes up, goes right back to sleep until her alarm goes off. The only problem with this is you may impact his breakfast appetite, but it's still worth trying. I'd rather my kids be up earlier in the moring and go to bed reasonably at night, but I know not everyone feels this way..........................

Carnation Instant breakfast is THE best. with whole ice cream like pp says and anything else you can throw in there. Not only high calorie, lots of protein (in the whole milk too).

horsemom i would let him make his own food until whenever but i need him to go to sleep for school or he will be a mess. on the weekends it would prob be ok though. i think we are going to give him his meds earlier and see if he will go back to sleep. then hopefully they will wear off sooner and he will eat earlier and go to sleep b4 9pm. the muffin thing really worked last night. he ate 2 peices of pizza and had his "choc milk" CIB and then i let him take those mini muffins in his bed. he did ask me for food around 8:45 but i could tell it was more like he just didnt want to go to bed rather than him being hungry. he went to sleep somewhere around 9:30 which is better than usual. hopefully we can keep this up. some ppl have used melatonin on here. i wonder is it something they get used to and have to up the dose or after they have it for awhile do they need it to go to bed all the time after that. i know with things like tylenol pm or other sleep aids ppl get addicted to them and end up not being able to sleep without them. is this the case with melatonin?? also where would i buy it? i wouldnt give him benadryl like i have heard others use b/c i jjust wouldnt feel right. would giving melatonin be the same as benadryl. for ex: is supposed to be for something else but causes drowsiness?? well i want to thank u all for your help. im glad u are all here or i wouldnt know what to do!!

kim

tylenol pm IS Benadryl. It's Tylenol + Benadryl. I also would not use this daily. It is not addictive btw.

Melatonin is NOT the same thing at all. Many people use it and if the earlier use of stims doesnt work it may be worth trying. You can buy it anywhere(like GNel. Can I suggest giving as low a dose as possible to start if you opt to go this route (like 1mg). I took it myslef and used the recommended 3mg dose and HATED it. Nightmares, vivid dreams and extreme grogginess and nausea the next day. Quite obviously too high of a dose for me, so I threw them out.......but others have given 3mg or more (with children) and been fine......just go low and slow................

thank u for the heads up about the possible nightmares or feeling like crap the day after! i wouldnt have even thought of that. i never knew tylenol pm was benadryl! but again i have never taken it so maybe thats why. i dont really like the thought of him having a sleep aid but just curious about what exactly it was in case one day we do have to resort to it. thank u for responding so quickly diane. u have been such a great help for me since i have been here!! hopefully we will get most of this figured out soon!! thanks again!

kim

Kim

Have you thought about having your son make his night time snacks? He could make peanut butter sandwiches or cut veggies up for snacking. Try making him a turkey sandwich on whole wheat. The protein and the tryptophan in the turkey is a natural sleep aid.

I wake my son up to give him his meds and let him go back to sleep. He wakes up about an hour later. We have been Vyvanse for over a year. I have to remind him to eat all day long. I also found that letting him eat just before bed helps him to calm down enough to go to sleep.

We have used melatonin. I have used myself. I had no side effects except  some good sleep. I found that 30 minutes after taking it I was yawning. I did not feel drugged, just relaxed and ready to go to bed.

so i have tried to wake him up early and he still stays up pretty late. the first day of school was monday and he stayed up all the way to 11pm. he had his meds around 6am. i dont get it! we have figured out a snack routine though. he gets carnation inst bkfst choc milk. he loves it! and we give him his choice of either a pb&j sand, cheese crackers, soup, oatmeal or whatever sounds good. then after he eats that we go to his room and gets to take mini muffins bag with him. he has not asked me for more food since. and this way he doesnt keep getting out of bed for food. he is still going to bed late usually around 10 now but he is not starving. so one down and one to go. i hope he is gaining weight. also i had looked for melatonin at walmart and i found tablets. is this what they are supposed to be or are they drops?? and also these ones only came in 3mg and 5mg and they said do not give to kids under 12. my son will be 7 next month. have i found the wrong ones? if so where should i go and about how much is it?? thanks everyone for the advice.

kim