My 6 yr old with severe ADHD is on Concerta. He takes it at like 8am. He cant fall asleep till like 11pm-1am. We were using Melatonin which worked great but not anymore. The Dr. prescribed him Clonidine to sleep at night. Something about that doesn't sit well with me & I'm nervous to give him this. Does anyone have any suggestions or experience with this??
Anyone familiar with giving 6yr old Clonidine to sleep?
Question posted by tammydonny on 6 Nov 2009
Last updated on 28 September 2021 by Chinadollpb
The information on this page reflects personal experiences shared by our community members. It is not reviewed for medical accuracy and should not replace professional medical advice.
27 Answers
Chinadollpb
29 Sep 2021
My 5 year old grandson... diagnosis of ADHD, Sensory Processing Disorder (overstimulation) and Autism ... has been taking Clonidine 0.1mg for 3 months now. His Neurologist prescribed it, at my request not to use narcotics at this time. The initial 2 months it seemed to quill his need to stay up all night and helped the hyperactivity during the day. The clonidine does allow him to sleep at night. I have noticed that he wakes up thirsty, but there are no other issues so far. Though, he doesn't take anything else.
Vivi0102
16 Feb 2021
My son was also prescribed clonidine because he takes meds for adhd and the doctor gave 0.1mg because he wasn’t falling asleep and it did work. He falls asleep and can take his meds in the day to focus so I’d say give it a shot
Serina111
25 Feb 2019
My son is 9. He has taken clonidine sense he was 2.5 yrs of age for sleep. We have had no issues at all. He takes Vyvanse 30 mg tablets every morning for ADHD.
Angela Lands
30 Oct 2018
I have an 8 year old daughter that was diagnosed with ADHD. She takes this med at night time to help her sleep it's very effective for her. We did have to raise the dose about 6 months ago from .1 to .2mgs she takes a Vyvanse in the morning to help with her Focus and she takes this mad at night to help her sleep it also helps with the aggression that comes with ADHD. For some reason this medication only helps with adolescents with ADHD. Before my daughter just started taking this med she would be up for 2 to 3 days and melatonin was a joke for her as well. Hope this helps.
Momof2boys44
17 Oct 2018
My son is 5 he takes 0.1mg tonight was the first night giving him the whole pill and I will say I won't give him a full pill again I just didnt like how he fell asleep within 15 mins of taking it so I will stick with the half of 0.1 mg and that seems to work better he sleeping within an hour. My son has autismand he doesnt sleep more then 5 hours a night and now he sleeps about 8 and its a big improvement! My son is great on the half pill and ill keep him on that.
Janice Outlaw
27 Nov 2017
I have a 5 year old daughter which is autistic and she's been on clonidine for a couple of months now and I to was scared to give it to her but she was having a hard time sleeping and wouldn't go to sleep until about 3 or 4 in the morning now she sleeps all night
Kimberlykwhite
21 Nov 2017
My 5 yr. Old grandson was abused and now has cebryl palsy with traumatic brain injury now he is on risperidone and clonidine he can take up to 2 tabs. A day. It actually lowers your blood pressure. He has been on it since he was 2 or he just would not sleep.
Doomkitty09
6 Nov 2017
My daughter takes half a clonidine 1 hour before bed and it has helped her so much. Before clonidine I had her on benadryl for about 3 years and she kept getting a lot of kidney stones so the Dr put her on clonidine they told me it xanex for kids she's been on it 2 months now has had no kidney stones and she's finally sleeping like she should.
Tamzett
22 March 2017
I have never answered a question this personal before since I know meds for ADHD is as personalized as hair styles, but felt like I may have a different view point.
My 8 year old foster son has been hospitalized 4 times total, obviously a very extreme case of ADHD with something else yet to be identified. During the 3rd he was put on Clonidine. He was still on his same dosage of Adderall XR, but they added .1 mg Clonidine 3x daily. I was very skeptical of allowing this for the same reasons all of you have mentioned, but I am so glad I did. He was able to function and even sleep for the first time in his life. He made such an improvement that he was released earlier than expected. The next 3 months with him were extremely pleasant. He was succeeding and enjoying ALL areas of his life for the first time ever and actually making progress in outpatient therapy. When the (3) months prescriptions from the hospital discharge ran out we went to their doctor for refills.
Just like after the first 2 hospital stays the doctor said it was too much medicine for him and took him off almost everything (especially the Clonidine). Within 3 weeks, hospital stay #4 happened. Now I am waiting until next month for an appointment with a new doctor. I will literally beg him to put him back on that combo of meds again. I have gotten letters from 6 teachers/admin/counselors etc to take with me.
I know that so many times the problem is over medicating kids because there is no one size fits all dosing schedule, but Clonidine seems to be a God send for my little one. I have nothing negative to say about it and honestly believe it is the only medicine that gives him a hope of a happy and productive life.
I can only hope for each of you that you find that ONE combo that makes your kiddos feel whole and enjoy life like we found for those 3 months. And I hope and pray that new doctor will listen to how drastic the difference is for my little one and puts him back on it.
Good luck to each of you and your precious ones.
lazermagee
19 Jan 2017
My daughter is 8yrs old and was diagnosed with adhd 3 years ago. She has been on 3 different medications to treat it in that time and we found the greatest success with Concerta but throughout this journey her sleep has suffered the most. Steadily getting worse and worse. She was an excellent sleeper from two months old so this was very hard on her. We used melatonin at first and it worked fantastically, however, over the past 6 months it does nothing at all. I've been waking her up in the mornings early to take her pill and let her go back to sleep in hopes that would help but its not. I finally called the pediatrician in a bit of a panic asking for help and she faxed us a prescription for clonidine .05mg. I was really grossed out by this at first. I hate that her medication is making her need MORE medication, it's such a hard journey to stay faithful that we are doing the right thing for her.
I gave her, her first one last night and she was asleep by 9pm, which was MUCH better than before. My question is concerning the long term. Is this something she is going to be dependant on to sleep for as long as she's on concerta and how early before bedtime to I give it to her? The poor little mouse has really felt the side effects of her adhd medication. It's been a constant battle to keep the weight on her and her sleep has been so hard on her. We are seeing some very beneficial evidence in her adhd treatment so I'm not about to give up on this but as a mum, it's a constant worry.
dizzyjac1
19 Feb 2017
.5 is a little dose and that is a good thing it is working for her. My son is also 8, 56 pounds though and his dr said .1 and if I need to go to .2 I can!!! I don't want to do that, not at all. However, I take .3 of it myself and if I take it longer before I go to bed, like more than a 1/2 hour, I don't remember talking or watching tv the next day. And if you are going to stop her on it, please wean her very slowly. I had to stop my, (well turns out I didn't have to) but anyway, dumb allergist screwed up for me and I had the worst withdrawal symptoms EVER! I can try and advise as much as I can. Good luck
dunnings
8 Jan 2017
My son is 10 and takes concerta 27 mg in the am and clonidine at night to help with sleep. He has been on this routine for a little over a year now And it seems fine. It knocks him out.
Chrissy1978
29 Dec 2016
My 6 year old has ADHD. The doctor put her on a medication called quillivant xr 25 mg/5ml. I give it to her around 6 am. But she also doesn't sleep. So at that time he said to give her melatonin 3 mg before bedtime. This was not helping. I did give her Benadryl which was like giving her caffeine. The ADHD medication is great. The sleeping however is much worse. We had a follow up appointment today and he prescribed 0.1 mg of clonidine. I am a nephrology nurse so I was very alarmed. I see they can be cut in half so I am going to try it tonight. This has really helped me. Thank you everyone. I hope this works.
Rowiejd
19 Nov 2016
My child was diagnosed with adhd when he was 5yo, he was prescribed Ritalin and catapres (clonidine) for sleep, it is the most common "sleep aid" used on children as it is not a "sedative" and is the safest option because it lowers their blood pressure which makes them drowsy and allows them to sleep and it is short acting (4-6 hours) therefore has no "hangover affect". My child is now almost 10yo and has had no problems with the clonidine and has recently gone from the original 10mg dose to 15mg (as being older the lower dose wasn't working as well)
EVAEDDY
5 Nov 2016
My Grandson who has autism was not able to sleep at night, which made his days a nightmare. He was prescribed a very low dose of Clonidine for sleep. Now he gets excellent sleep and does so much better during the day. He is now 11 years old, I believe he was 7 years old when the Clonidine was started. To date he has had no ill side effects.
helene vanderhoff
5 Nov 2016
Hi There! My 8 year old girl has severe adhd. She had sleep issues before meds but meds made ir worse. Sometimes awake all night!!! Her Dr prescribed clonidine over a year ago. It has been a game changer and lifesaver for us all. She sometimes(rarely)still wakes up but is much easier to get her back down. We tried melatonin and every thing else possible before this with no luck. Sleep is so important to a childs development and lack of sleep can even lower IQ from some studies Ive read. Im so happy we did this. Adding another drug is always scary but we have had no side effect and the benefits are immense. Im a teacher and have a psych minor.
Home this helps!!!
Related topics
concerta, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (adhd), sleep disorders, clonidine, melatonin, sleep
Further information
Similar questions
Search for questions
Still looking for answers? Try searching for what you seek or ask your own question.