My son went through the same symptoms at first. it took a while but he did eat again. He went through the spring wearing slims. When he was ready to eat, we let him, even late at night. we would put him to bed late if he wanted to eat. We let him anything. we would cook late at night or get wendy's, etc. He also did banana chocolate shakes with bananas and ice cream. All calories.
he eventually started to adjust to the meds and began eating.
Feed him whenever he wants to/ whatever he wants to.
My son also couldn't handle adderall - it made him aggitated, to say the least! He was better on concerta, better for him.
hang in there!!
We also went through rebound, have you had that?
My DS didn't eat a lot at lunch either. That is fairly common. I made sure my DS ate a good breakfast (before he took his meds) and then he ate a little better at dinner and I made sure he had a good snack before bed. The bottom line is make sure he has good things to eat when he is hungry and let him eat a lot if he wants to at those times. I wouldn't worry unless he starts to lose weight. My DS was skinny to begin with (ie. before meds) ad he has a naturally fast metabolism but despite all of that he continued to have steady, small weight gain as he grew. It just wasn't as much as if he hadn't been on meds. I was told by one doctor that even though they don't gain a lot of weight while on meds, if they go off then they catch up. I never took medication holidays with my DS but some people do for various reasons one being to let the child gain some weight. Another thing I have heard parents do if they are concerned about weight gain is they give their child Carnation Instant Breaskfast drink - you have milk calories and then the extra calories, vitamins, etc of the powder mix.
As your DS adjusts to the meds he may get a little or all of his appetite back. One thing to be aware of (in the future) is that when a kids appetite comes back then the meds may need to be adjusted - an increas in appetite is a sign that the meds dose isn't high enough. If that is the case you will also see behavior that isn't as good. I hope that made sense.
Good luck!
My daughter doesn't eat much lunch but makes up for it in the evenings. Like Bethann, we pretty much let her eat whenever she is hungry. Many nights it's right up to when she goes to bed. She initially lost weight when we started stimulants, but gained it all back and has continued to grow on at steady rate. We haven't done medications on weekends or the summers. HorseMom39891.7073958333Hi. My son began taking Adderall XR just a few weeks ago. We've seen huge improvements at school and with friends (he's only 5) but his appetite is so effected by the medication that he will barely eat 1 bite for lunch. And I had to beg him to take that one bite! Does this side effect improve with time in your experience? Is it good just to feed him more later in the day and I shouldn't worry? Any advice is welcome!My son 10, is on Concerta and it , after getting used to it, he now eats beakfast, fine small lunch, and a big dinner and dessert Ice cream usually. He cannot tolerate adderol because of the aggressiveness to say the least.