Experience with putting a 4 yo on Ritalin?

[Anonymous]

I know this is a relatively unusual thing to do, but we have gotten 4 different opinions from 4 different doctors and they all recommend we put our 4 yo on Ritalin for ADHD. We are starting later this week. Has anyone else done this on a child so young? How did it go?

I’m excited to try it and see if it helps, but afraid to get my hopes up too high. I myself take adderall and find it immensely helpful.

[Anonymous]

Op here. I should explain that the dose we would start on is very low and we’d be doing it with the supervision of a child psychiatrist.

[Anonymous]

No experience just that this seems very young but if your child literally has no other options then it seems like it's worth a try.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No experience just that this seems very young but if your child literally has no other options then it seems like it's worth a try.

Op here. Yes. It is very young. Ritalin isn’t even FDA approved for kids younger than 6. But we have exhausted all our options and the ADHD is severe. We are hoping the Ritalin will enable DC to gain skills by facilitating focus.

[Anonymous]

We did, and I understand it’s hard to decide. It didn’t work for us. Meds require a lot of trial and error and it was too hard to figure out if it worked at that age. But I know others who have had success at that age. It is worth trying. Just know often meds take time to figure out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did, and I understand it’s hard to decide. It didn’t work for us. Meds require a lot of trial and error and it was too hard to figure out if it worked at that age. But I know others who have had success at that age. It is worth trying. Just know often meds take time to figure out.

Op here. Thank you. This is good for me to hear as I worry we are hoping this will be like a miracle drug for us but who really knows.

[Anonymous]

We did medication for our 5 yo with severe ADHD, so a year older. It made a pretty big difference with respect to the emotional dysregulation and the ability to sit still/listen (for a short amount of time but still longer than literally ZERO amount of time). The other aspects, not as much because he wasn't mature enough. We're really seeing it pay off and be a total game changer now, at 7 BUT we wouldn't have made it through Kindergarten without the meds. The hardest part was finding something he would take easily. Focalin worked ok but was difficult to get him to take. We ultimately ended up with Quillivant.

[Anonymous]

I’d try it if the issues were that severe. You have the opinion of 4 doctors. I am extremely conservative about meds too.

[Anonymous]

Not buying this. This is the same OP that got flamed on TWO more threads for saying they were trying to get their 4 year old on meds. Nope. Not buying it at all.

[Anonymous]

What is the reason that the 4 doctors have recommended meds? What are the reasons that you are considering meds for your DC? What areas do you see as a problem or need improvement?

We started meds at 8-9 and in some ways they are helpful and other ways not, I'm not sure if it's two steps forward and one step back or two steps forward and two steps back. At 4 and 5 (and younger and older), DS was a wild child but it wasn't a reason to start meds. For example, at school, he wandered around the classroom instead of staying seated or near his place and the teachers were fine with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not buying this. This is the same OP that got flamed on TWO more threads for saying they were trying to get their 4 year old on meds. Nope. Not buying it at all.

Op here. Not me lol. I have posted about my child before but we only just now started going down the medication route. On previous threads people have asked me why my kid isn’t medicated already. I didn’t think it was an option for a 4 year old but then we explored it and found out that it is. We’ve already decided to do it and will be starting as soon as we get our hands on the meds. Im just posting here to understand what others’ experiences have been like at this age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did, and I understand it’s hard to decide. It didn’t work for us. Meds require a lot of trial and error and it was too hard to figure out if it worked at that age. But I know others who have had success at that age. It is worth trying. Just know often meds take time to figure out.

Op here. Thank you. This is good for me to hear as I worry we are hoping this will be like a miracle drug for us but who really knows.

That’s a good point. We didn’t try stimulants till my kid was a teen, but we also had trial and error to find a stimulant that worked. The first one or two caused anxiety. Our kid was able to tell us and we were able to stop and try something new. So I guess my point is, don’t be discouraged if Ritalin isn’t the answer - it could be something else. Also, our psychiatrist stressed to us that the medication “washes out of your system” relatively quickly so it is easy to tell if something is working and also easy to stop (unlike antidepressants that take weeks to see an effect and you need to taper).

[Anonymous]

What factors made the doctors make this recommendation?

[Anonymous]

Hi op, nothing to add but starting my 5 year old on ritalin this week as well. I wish us both luck! if you have consulted with many professionals (as we have as well), you are probably doing the right thing to try and remember that no one on this anonymous forum knows your kid even remotely as you do. You know what is best for your kid. Waiting longer for medication can be right for some kids, but it also isn't a badge of honor and taking the edge off can be a real gift to your kid. I hope it ends up being so for both of us!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What factors made the doctors make this recommendation?

Op here. The ADHD diagnosis for one. Problems in school. Problems with attention. Problems with regulation. Problems with gaining new skills due to the severity of inattention and large amount of time spent in a state of disregulation. Problems at home with behavior.