For those who medicate their child for ADHD....

[Mishetta]

Just curious as to when you give your child their meds? I give them to my DS after his breakfast but I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't give them to him while he's just getting up. Our mornings are so very difficult & I hate yelling at him all morning just to get ready. As all of you know, the simplest tasks are very difficult for ADHD people. The Neurologist suggested that I give my DS his meds as soon as he wakes up but I'm afraid he won't eat breakfast then. (He loses his appetite for hours & hours after taking his meds ~ hey, I think I should start taking them!! ) Anyway, just wondered when your child gets their meds?

 

[geffric]

Mishetta sounds like my house. My son gets called to get up and moving about 3 times, gets lost ( forgets what he is supposed to be doing on his way the brush his teeth) takes 20 minutes to make his hot chocolate.. he has to stirr it x # of times, add a bit more chocolate etc..

I am the breakfast witch telling him to keep moving, eat you cereal , the bus will be here in x minutes.. I have to hand him his med and watch that he takes them or else he will say that he did and he will forget to take it.. Gets lost on the way back to his room to get his socks, etc..At least, we get his homework in his backpack the night before.. but he does not remember to hand it in many days, amd then cries because he get a 0 for the homework and a lower grade on his report card because he had missing homework.

I do make him eat breakfast before his med because after the meds he won't eat anything all day.. we compromise for lunch, he drinks milk and eats a string cheese.. hungry or not..

Sorry to be off topic... but to answer you q - yes he takes them after breakfast and before he gets on the bus..

 

[Poohnatic]

My son gets one with his breakfast, and another dose right after lunch. Yes, I'm a drill sargeant in the morning (more like a broken record), but I'd rather he get more use of the meds while at school. He's got a 90 minute bus ride each way. If I get him a little more time at school that it will work, that's fine with me.

Now, if only the 'long acting' stuff truly did for my son, we'd be happy campers!

Suzanne

 

[momof2OH]

My DS usually gets his morning meds around 6:45am and then eats. His doctor said I should give them to him about 1 hour before he's supposed to get up. (Meaning...go in and wake him up enough to take his meds and then have him fall back to sleep for an hour) This just doesn't work! So our mornings sound like everyone elses until his meds kick in which is at school. He can sometimes be quite mean too.

 

[Desiree]

Devyn usually takes hers right after she gets dressed and immediately before breakfast. Seems to work fine for us.

 

[Christine]

Well, my son gets up at 5:30 a.m. because I have to go to work. He does not get on his school bus until 9:10 a.m. His daycare provider gives him his meds at about 8:45 which means they are kicking in right when he gets to school.

I know what you go through in the morning. Believe me, I am prodding him all the way out the door.

My DD takes hers at 5:45 a.m., right before we leave the house and then doesn't start class until 8:00 a.m. I'd like her to take it later but she really doesn't want to take the meds at school. At age 12, she hates swallowing the capsule of Metadate, so we have to dump it out in some applesauce (wimp!). We just don't want to put the school through the applesauce routine. She seems to do okay, but she has a very mild case.

 

[TEENEE]

I do the drill sargeant thing in the morning. One of the last things my dd does before we leave the house is take her pill and vitamin. Then she has breakfast at school. I prefer to have the meds work for her at school. Some mornings are better than others.

 

[Mishetta]

You know, I think I really do need a support group! I can't believe reading your posts brought tears to my eyes (especially geffric's post!) I thought I was reading about my house in the morning. I thought I was going thru this all alone!

My DS forgets to get dressed! I mean, how simple is that?? I will leave him alone for 15 to 20 minutes to make his bed & get his clothes on & I go back to find him still undressed & playing with something in his room. He forgets he's supposed to brush his teeth, wash his face, brush his hair! I have him do the morning 'routine' in the same order everyday to help him remember but it's been 3 years he's been doing the same thing every morning & he forgets what he's supposed to do!

At one point, I had my DH wake him up at 530am & DS didn't need to leave for the school bus till 815am but he just fools around so much, he needs to get up that early!

Anyway, as I posted, DS's Neurologist recommended I medicate him before he gets out of bed & she gave me another script for a tiny dose for homework time (because if I medicate him while he's still in bed, his meds won't help him thru homework), but I think his daily med dose is more than I would even like to give him. So I'm not following the Doc's suggestion.

I can't believe I even struggled for 2 years before putting him on meds. If I hadn't done that, I'd be in jail by now!

 

[tkd lisa]

Oh, my. Been there, done that! The answer to the specific question is that both my kids get their meds WITH breakfast. Basically, they start eating, and about half way through, if they haven't taken the meds, the drill seargent mom makes them take them (and the vitamins too, but DS usually gobbles that down cause he likes them).

Both my kids are on strattera now, which is a longer lasting med than ritalin derivatives. But it also has to stay at a certain level, so no more skipping meds on the weekends. I'm not sure if it's the difference in the meds, or the kids just getting older (they're 10 1/2 and nearly 12 now), but they are doing better about getting ready in the mornings. The younger one has decided he doesn't like taking the meds though, so we really have to watch to be sure he takes it (found it on the floor after getting a really, really, really bad report from his teacher and day care on Monday, so hopefully the cause/effect thing finally sank in!).

DD has actually gotten a lot better about the mornings. She really doesn't want to go to daycare now (the bus would come by the house about 25 minutes after we leave for work), so here's what our "plan" is. We told her if for one month straight she can wake up using her alarm (no mom or dad going up to get her out of bed), take her shower (including hair, face and teeth washing), get something to eat, and be ready without reminders, we'll let her try the morning bus by herself. If she misses a day, the clock re-starts (in other words, she can't do it for a week, miss a day, do it for 3 more weeks, and then get to stay home). We also said that once we let her do this, if she misses the bus, that's it for the school year. So far, the incentive is working pretty well. She did great for a week, messed up one day, but is starting again, and has followed through for another week.

BTW, state law here would allow a child to be home alone for up to an hour at age 10 (not in my house, but that's the law), and during daylight hours for unlimited time, at age 12. I really didn't expect her to be able to do this, but I was working her into the plan for next school year. If she manages it this school year, I'll be jumping for joy that I found some incentive that she'll actually work for!

 

[Pembo]

Ds gets his pill with his breakfast and another just after lunch, at school. That gets him thru the afternoon and homework. We do hw as soon as he gets home from school and has a quick snack.

As for our morning routine, we have it VERY scaled down. Since he leaves for school at 7 am. I get him up at 6:30. We go straight to the table for cereal and milk. Then it's straight to the bathroom. Potty, get dressed, (clothes are picked out the night before), and brush teeth. He only has about 10 mins to do those last 3 tasks. This morning he was grumpy so I just stood there and handed him his clothes. That keeps him moving. If I left him alone he would just be sitting there doing who knows what.

Last year he had to make his bed in the mornings also. It was part of our very strict routine. (Shares a room with brother who doesn't have to get up as early, so I let the bed go).

Exact same routine every morning is the only thing that works for us. And to answer your simple question, pill with breakfast and yes we watch him take it. It has magically disappeared when we're not looking.

 

[TEENEE]

Sounds like we all have similar mornings. We have the same routine every day but every day I feel like my head will start spinning and I'll start spewing pea soup. It can be so frustrating to have the same problems every morning. My daughter has come up with an idea. She wants a dry erase board in her room so that she can make a list of the things she has to do each day. I bought the board last night, we'll see what happens. I think it will work for a few days and then she will slip back into her old ways, but I'm willing to try it. It's nice to know I'm not the only who feels like every morning starts with a battle.

 

[Mishetta]

I guess I'm lucky that my DS has no problem taking his pill. He just knows he has to do it. One time, he dropped his pill & couldn't find it. Instead of telling me, he just went to school unmedicated. That day I received a call from his teacher letting me know how impossible my child was that day (his school has no knowledge of his ADHD problem nor that he's on any meds). Once he arrived home he told me that he dropped the pill & couldn't find it!

My cousin's daughter was put on meds months ago & her Mom kept taking her back & forth to the doctor since there seemed to be no change in her daughter. Well, one weekend my cousin decided to paint the livingroom...moved the couch & found about 120+ pills behind the couch!! Child would tell parent "I don't want you to watch me take my pill!" (RED FLAG ALERT!! ) So they wouldn't watch her! You can only imagine how shocked her parents were to find all those pills behind the couch.

 

[Pembo]

moved the couch & found about 120+ pills behind the couch!! Child would tell parent "I don't want you to watch me take my pill!"

LOL!!!!

My ds's were doing that with their vitamins. I was finding those little buggers everywhere. Finally I got them to admit, they just didn't like them! So simple, to just tell me!