Sleeping pills????

I have a 7 yr old son that is on Vyvanse 50mg, it works so wonderfully during the day, however going to sleep at night is becoming a HUGE issue. He goes to bed at 8:00pm and, if we're lucky, goes to sleep at 10:30 pm!! I was considering talking to the dr. about him getting on something to get him to sleep at night, but I don't want to give him something during the day and have to give him something at night, too. I'm really torn on this issue, I was wondering if anyone has had exxperience with this or any advice???

My daughter (age 7) had the same problem last year on her Vyvanse 30mg.

Her doctor told us to give her some melatonin. He said it is the safest non medication to use. I bought mine at the drug store, very inexpensive. He had me start with 3 mg. around 6 p.m. for a 8:30 bedtime hour. In the beginning it didn't work and he had me go up to 5mg. That worked. Halfway through the year, once she adjusted to the Vyvase, I could drop her to the 3 mg and that worked.

This year her doctor dropped her to the new dose of 20mg. We give her the melatonin, 3mg now, on school nights around 6:00-6:30. By 8:30 she is ready for bed.

Good luck!

ps. before melatonin, she would be awake to 11:00 - 11:30 pm and then be sleep deprived the next day. The sleep aid is needed for her body to rest.

AMom2Two39707.3625925926How long have you been on Vyvanse? We had that problem the first week or so (as you can see by my previous post on sleeping tips), then the side effects (lack of sleep, poor appetite) improved after about 2 1/2 weeks. He's only been on the Vyvanse for a week, so I will be hopeful that it will improve. We go back to the dr. next week and I will definitely ask about the melatonin, I know some friends of mine that take it as well, I never thought about it for him. Thanks!My son is 6 and started 10mg of Focalin XR a few weeks and is going so great!! It seems to get him through the school day and into the evening! His appetite is still very good but falling asleep is difficult. We started to give him 1mg of Melatonin and it seems to do the trick. It is a natural sleep aid for those of you who do not want to put them on prescription sleep aids.

my ds is on 30mg of vyvanse. we had a hard time putting him on any meds. i just didnt feel right in doing it. well now that we see how much it has helped him we dont feel so bad. then he stayed up until 11 or 12 and had to go to school the next day. i knew he could not go on like this. reluctantly we tried melatonin as i feel the same as u in not wanting to give 2 diff meds. alot of ppl on here use it and the drs have approved. we started mine on .5 mg and it was too much. u will know b/c they can get bad dreams from too much. so we lowered it to .25mg. (we had to break the pill in 4 peices) and he goes to bed with in an hour of taking it. im thankful this works i would hate to put him on a sleeping pill. i feel like with most of them your body can become dependant on them. with melatonin i have heard that ppl can build a tolerance to them and to start small. maybe get 1mg and start with 1/2 and go up from there or down if u need too. good luck. dont feel bad giving 2 meds if it will help him rest. our kds need to sleep! and so do we!

kim

We tried the melatonin and it worked for a while, then we tried the chlonidine and it too worked for a while. We are now using Trazadone and it works wonders! My ds still doesn't sleep through the night but it helps him to fall asleep it just doesn't keep him a asleep. They don't actually rx sleeping pills for children. They rx meds that the side effects are that they cause droziness. I highly suggest NOT starting your 7 year old on a sleeping pill.

Before trying something so drastic, try giving him his Vyvanse earlier in
the day, and at least an hour before bedtime, start winding him down. I
know it's hard to get a hyperactive kid to wind down, but keeping tvs off,
computers unoccupied, the vicinity quiet and lights dimmed can do
wonders. Bath time and story time can be helpful as well. 8 PM doesn't
necessarily need to continue to be bedtime. If he's consistently not going
to bed until 10:30, in addition to modifying his night time routine,
pushing bedtime back can help with the power struggle.

If that doesn't work after establishing that routine for AT LEAST a week,
considering an alteration in his Vyvanse dosing is reasonable. Chemical
solutions for sleeplessness induced by another chemical should be the
absolute LAST RESORT.

BTW trazodone is actually an antidepressant, though its use has been
pretty much reduced to aiding in sleep. Hopefully you have thoroughly
read the information sheet and had an in depth discussion about the
serious down sides to taking trazodone.

And for those of you giving your elementary school kids 3mg+ of
melatonin - it is not a miracle sent by the forest nymphs, as pure and
perfect as a fresh trickling stream. Melatonin is a hormone. Since it's
considered a dietary supplement by the FDA, it does not have to meet the
guidelines required for any kind of medications. It has poor bioavailability, a very short half life, and doesn't help everyone. elegy39715.7948032407

Is Vivanse a timed release med?

Maybe he can take it earlier, or have your doc prescribe a standard release med.

I'm 52 on Ritalin for 12 years, but have always had a sleep disorder, (well, I've always had ADHD, too) so I take 5 mg Ambien at night.

I've debated long about a pill to wake and a pill to sleep, but it's the only way I've been able to survive in this society. Not a lot of business with the hours I used to keep...

Good luck.

My son has always had trouble sleeping, now that he is on Focalin it seems to be worse. I don't know if that is the cause or not. Melatonin --5mg was our first choice, it seemed to work at first when he took it, but now it doesn't work consistently. We are going to try clonadine, just 0.1 mg tablets, and just 1/2 a pill at first. Once he can get a good night sleep every night, I think it will make his days go easier. We tried 2mg of melatonin for my 8 year old. It worked great until
the VERY strange and weird dreams started. We had to stop. If your
kids can tolerate it, it's wonderful.

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