Hi Christiane,

Your English is wonderful. Don't worry about it :)

My son is 14 also. He doesn't take sleeping meds, but probably should. What we've been doing is trying to make sure he has some relaxing time before bed. He takes his bath at night, for example. I've worked with giving him milk products (like a bowl of cereal, yogurt, or some cheese) before bedtime. It works, but it's not a magical cure.

I have heard good things about Clonidine from another mother that has a son with ADHD, but haven't broken down and tried it yet. Mostly I've urged my son not to take morning classes when he goes to college :)

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My daughter is 11 years old. She was just diagnosed with ADHD in August 08 and has been having sleeping problems for years - trouble falling asleep (and worrying about it), waking in the night (and worrying about it), and waking between 4-5 am and unable to go back to sleep. She was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder as well and so the Dr. prescribed Trazadone for her. She takes a half a pill at bedtime (25 mgs.) and has been sleeping wonderfully since Sept. (it is now Dec. 1). It has been a godsend. Trazadone is an antidepressant but used in low doses for insomnia. It has been wonderful for us. Hope this helps.

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Hello:

Welcome to the ADDitude forums! I have heard of several ADHD children taking melatonin to help them fall asleep. I would definitely recommend discussing any ideas with your doctor before trying them, though! You don't want any bad reactions with ADHD meds.

I would also recommend reading some of ADDitude's best articles about sleep advice for ADHD children.

Good luck!

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Hi My sisters son is 9 and has been taking melatonin for over a year. It has cut down his getting to sleep time from 3 or 4 hours to about half an hour. It isn't addictive as your body naturally produces it when it is time to sleep (some say ADHDers don't produce enough of there own). Z has 4mg at night. The only trouble she finds with it is she thinks if he takes it on going he tends to get really bad nightmares, often 3 or 4 a night. So every 10 days she tries to give him a day off. Hope this helps. PinkLisa

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My son is 13 years old. He has been diagnosed with ADHD. He is currently taking Strattera and Adderall to help him control the ADHD symptoms. Every night he drinks chamomile tea, while he reads his books before bed. If it gets past 11:30, he will take 2-3mg melatonin tablets. Melatonin has been almost a god-send. It really helps them get to sleep, and gives them a restful sleep. Melatonin can be bought at Walmart, as it is an over-the counter item, and it is something that your body naturally produces anyways.

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Here's our experience. First, get the best psychiatrist you can, one with lots of experience in child/teen ADHD, who uses a data based approach. For example, instead of asking "how is everything?" s/he asks "what are the specific difficulties and successes you're seeing?" And instead of being satisfied with "he's tired in the morning," asking why. What time does N. go to bed? What does he do before bed? Describe what it's like to get him up in the morning. Does he like his first period class? Keep data for two weeks on time the computer screen went off at night, what time lights out, what time alarm went off, what time meds taken in the morning, what time left for school. You get the idea. WIthout this kind of information, everyone is just experimenting on your child.

So what do we have? Sleeping is a package deal in our house. (This was all set by the psychiatrist, in consultation with our 15 year old son. Our job is to enforce and support.) 9pm .3mg clonidine. This helps with sleep, and doesn't hurt with blood pressure. 9:15pm Media blackout. No screens. No computer, no iPod, no Palm, no radio. (we don't have a TV) This is for the whole family. 9:30 Start getting ready for bed. Pack backpack, clean up desk (which is a work table in the kitchen), get into PJs, brush teeth. 10pm Lights out. By this time, yawns have already started.

And this relates to the morning -- N takes his 54mg Concerta no later than 8am, and closer to 6:30 most mornings. If the Concerta is taken too late, it interferes with sleep the following night.

Is this easy? no. I have to plan my work and not stay up till 1am on the computer, too. Is there pushback from the teen about going to bed "before my friends"? yup. But it's a medical issue, and we try to treat it gently and with humor and not get emotionally involved. Does it help? yes, without a doubt.

I think a parent shouldn't be afraid of medication -- but it's not a magic pill. It works best with considering the entire picture of the child's life. You knew that already :)

Good luck, you can do this!

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Melatonin is good for getting to sleep and Seratonin for staying asleep. My son is 15 and we have done Clonidine and an antidepressant. He has anxiety and cannot go to sleep without someone nearby. 5-HTP has seratonin in it and you can increase it if needed. Start with 1 and increase gradually. There are also some supplements that have both melatonin and seratonin in them. Seratonin is also good for mood problems.

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Chrissi said: Hi to everybody We have a 14 year old son with ADHD. We are living in Europe, Germany. Since I remember my son had a lot of problems to sleep during the night. He is on Ritalin LA 40mg and in the evening he gets Chlorprothixen, I find this is to stong to give a child, before he became Clonidine and that is normally for high blood pressure. I wonder if there is not a med that helps and is not so strong. Would like to know what med. you get in the Staates to talk to our doc. You have much more info and treatment in the Staates than we have. Thank for helping me and our son. Many Greetings and excuse my english. Christiane

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My son is also 14 years old. He is been taking clonidine to sleep since he was 8 years old. He started out taking .15 mg. About a year ago I reduced it to .10 mg. Recently I changed it to .05 mg. The clonidine has been a blessing with his sleeping at night. I strongly recommend giving it a try.

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My 5 year old son, who I am seeking a diagnosis for at this point, who thus far has beebn diagnosed as having generalized anxiety, has always had a horrible time sleeping. He's been waking constantly since he was an infant. Since about age 2, he's been waking with "pain." Usually it is leg (figured it was growing pains) and will cry and hyperventalate for hours. Sometimes multiple times a night. Then the arm, stomach, head, even eye "pain" started. It jumps from leg to leg, arm to arm, never consistent with the location. I think that's where the anxiety diagnosis comes in.

I also have only had to wake him up, like, twice in his life. He is up EARLY. He's started making it to almost 7 at times, but most of the time it's around 6...... better than what it used to be though. Today, after a night of screaming.... he was up at 4:30 AM. :(

We used to use melatonin, but it never helped him STAY asleep. And, the doctor he saw recently said with a family history of depression, melatonin might not be wise to use (though a pediatrician recommended it without checking for this) Be careful of this, because it's not something I would have thought of.

We are trying a diet right now- dairy free. Does anyone else's children have rashes, eczema, ear infections, digestive problems, along with sleep issues, hyperactivity, impulsivity? The develop/behav specialist he saw recommended this diet for a week to see if it improves anything.

If not, I really want to seek meds for sleeping. Neither of us can do this much longer!

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My 9 year old has been taking meds for ADHD/ODD for 5 years. We have been on a host of medications, Ritalin, Adderall, Strattera, Concerta, Daytrana, Focalin and now Vyvanse. She has always had difficutly falling and staying asleep. We tried Melatonin with no luck. She takes .2mg of Clonidine at 7pm and 10mg Celexa. The Clonidine, most nights, does wonders. Within an hour, she is asleep. About 2-3 times per month, though, she wakes up around 2am and doesn't go back to sleep. She prefers to eat anything sweet she can (canned frosting, cool whip, etc.) and as the night goes on, she winds up more and more. I can hear that she is up and just want to hide under my covers, hoping its just a dream. She doesn't calm down until she has her ADHD meds in the morning.

Anyway, the clonidine has definitely helped her fall asleep. I just can't always keep her asleep until morning.

Good Luck !!

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Hi everybody

Thank you so much for your answers. I talked to our doc. and we will return to Clonidine.

Wish all of you a Merry X-mas

Chrissi

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