Summer medication vs not

[Anonymous]

Arghh same boat. The psychiatrist recommended doing half dose during the summer and I did and this week at camp was catastrophic.

[Anonymous]

We take the same approach as the pps op - we continue to medicate in the summer and just plan for/expect eating to be a slightly different schedule. Heavier afternoon snacks, dinner sometimes after dinner. It just has not worked for us to take med breaks. Our son needs it for regulating emotions like you said and I feel it’s better for everyone and hard on him to not have it be consistent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you asked him? By 11 yo, he'll have an opinion on how he feels on meds. If he hasn't reflected, maybe you could help him keep a log? Each night he could make a note of how the day went and if he was medicated.

No I don't think this is accurate. My 17 year old still says he doesn't feel the difference. The psychiatrist said it's normal for kids and teens to not feel it until adulthood. I have an adult family member with ADHD; he says he can definitely tell the difference. But my son can't.

Medication doesn’t affect everyone the same way. My DD is very sensitive to the meds and can feel the difference, especially on certain meds.

OP, sometimes when I want to tamp down my DD’s impulsivity and keep her emotional regulation in check, but she wants to be able to eat, I just give her a half dose of medication. For her, it’s a good compromise.

You mentioned kids growing more in the summer. That may be tied to their getting more sleep over summer break. Kids grow while they sleep. My DD got her first back brace for scoliosis during the Covid shutdown. She outgrew it much sooner than expected. The woman who measures and fits the back braces said she’d never seen so many kids outgrow their braces so quickly, and that it seemed to be happening at every appointment all of a sudden. The theory was that everyone was getting more sleep while they were stuck at home.

[Anonymous]

Also have an 11yo with ADHD. We continue for weekdays all summer because he is in camp and needs it to not be in trouble all day. On weekends, I decide based on what we have scheduled that day. There are definitely more fights with his sibling if he's off his meds, but she's older and they just give each other a lot more space than they used to. They used to fight constantly, but my older kid has gotten more patient and my 11yo has calmed down a bit (even when not on meds.)

I do like to skip weekends because he is very thin (not unhealthy, and staying on a steady curve fortunately) and having a few days a week where he eats more helps.

As for the post dinner snacking, I've embraced it but we focus on things that are a little more in the healthy snack arena than treats that inspire jealousy. Our go to snacks are banana with peanut butter, apple with peanut butter, almonds or cashews, etc. If his sister decides she also wants an apple with peanut butter, that's fine.

[Anonymous]

We went to Japan for a few months last summer where stimulants are prohibited without jumping through major hoops and found things went okay (not great) and DC grew several inches and put on 20 lbs (needed it), so we’re taking off this summer too. There are moments of frustration, but it feels like the right choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here,

Those are all great pieces of advice. I will talk to his psych about non-stim meds and also embrace alternative eating times or consider just medicating anyway. I know the snacking at night drives my husband bonkers. He grew up in a "kitchen is closed" kinda house so doesn't like when the kids start snacking so soon after dinner.

How do you handle the snacking with the other kids? If my son is eating/snacking later at night, Icecream, yogurt, cheese, chips, etc. My other 3 kids are also going to want to eat at that time too even though they are not hungry nor do they need to eat then. I don't want to cause weird food struggles and also don't want to seem like I'm playing *favorites* which is inevitably what my young kids will think ("he gets to eat Icecream every night that's not fair"). I can see it now!

If he skips a meal then leave his portion in the fridge, that’s what he eats after dinner. Or he can eat an apple. Filling up on fake foods and sugar are the opposite of what he needs. With that diagnosis it should be 100% natural, nothing fake, nothing highly processed, mostly homemade diet.

[Anonymous]

I am speaking as the parent of an almost adult child with ADHD, and a high school special educator who has gotten updates on many former students.

The ability to form social relationships, self esteem, self confidence, mental health etc . . . are much better predictors of a kid’s ability to launch, sustain employment, and sustain relationships with adults than their GPA or the college they get into. Given that medicating for academics but not social situations seems so backwards to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My ADHD 11 yo son takes short acting medication that largely control his ADHD symptoms of distractibility and impulsivity nicely. We were lucky we found something so quick that worked with minimal side effects. He is continuing tutoring during the summer so I medicate him for those sessions, but on non-tutoring days, I have been skipping. He's a small guy for his age and already has a small appetite (wants to eat and then jump up to play) so the medication dampens the little bit he has. I am trying to not medicate him unless it's an academic thing so he can grow, but he's nearly impossible with his siblings. He's so impulsive he can't play nicely for too long or he's not regulated when things don't go his way.

I'm trying to balance what to do, anyone have any advice? Growing on these long summer days (they day kids grow more in the summer) but dealing with his impulsively which I'm sure that hampers his confidence and how he perceives himself (he gets 99% more corrections when he's off meds) vs being more amenable and agreeable for family life but then not eating so much and missing a growing opportunity.

My now college age child was medicated during the summer. Otherwise he could not have done any summer camps at all.
The weight and growth issues evened out during puberty. Even on the meds he ate like crazy. His height didn’t suffer either. He is in the middle of the height range for the men on both sides of our family.

[Anonymous]

We don’t do meds on weekends or summers. Kids need to grow mentally as well and learning to use natural techniques to address impulsivity is a life skill we want to foster, even if it is more difficult. We dig in a bit on his therapist, though! That helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am speaking as the parent of an almost adult child with ADHD, and a high school special educator who has gotten updates on many former students.

The ability to form social relationships, self esteem, self confidence, mental health etc . . . are much better predictors of a kid’s ability to launch, sustain employment, and sustain relationships with adults than their GPA or the college they get into. Given that medicating for academics but not social situations seems so backwards to me.

Not OP, but I actually feel that my son might be more socially successful on a half dose - he needs the full dose at school for his ability to focus but it can flatten him socially. Currently trying to decide if he will try a half dose at camp

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP here and I will add to embrace alternate eating schedules. When my kids is on stims, he eats a good breakfast before the meds, doesn't eat much for lunch, but then has a good dinner and snacks through the evening often pretty substantially which ends up kind of making up for the light lunch. We basically let him eat whatever he wants for snacks to put on weight.

This. DS has been on them for 9y - he is now 19y and in college. We never skipped meds on weekends/holidays/summers - we just adapted to his eating patterns. The weight loss tapered after a year or so and he is a healthy weight now (also plays soccer and swims.) When he was in school, he would eat breakfast, no lunch, be starving around 4-5 and eat dinner-ish, take a booster to get through sports/homework and then eat again around 10p (is he didn't take a booster, he would eat again around 8p.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here...

As far as reflection, he knows it helps him with school but Im not sure if he knows otherwise how it helps him. During the school year we just give it every day, even on weekends, bc the family dynamic and having him not be in trouble or making a sibling yell far outweighs other options. I suppose I need to treat the summer days like weekends too. I will ask his psychiatrist soon and see if there are nonstim options and get my husband on board with his late night snacking/maybe even making a milkshake or something and putting it in a opaque cup so the siblings won't be drooling. I can tell them the doctor said he could have X but that doesn't mean they won't feel slighted by it and since he's already our labor intensive child, I'm sure they are sensitive to how he gets a lot more of our attention too.

I am the pp with the 19y old. Just because he was eating at night, didn't mean he got to eat ice cream every night. Yogurt, PB&J, cheese and crackers, leftovers, apples and PB, chicken fried rice from TJ...

And if the other kid was hungry he could get a snack too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here,

Those are all great pieces of advice. I will talk to his psych about non-stim meds and also embrace alternative eating times or consider just medicating anyway. I know the snacking at night drives my husband bonkers. He grew up in a "kitchen is closed" kinda house so doesn't like when the kids start snacking so soon after dinner.

How do you handle the snacking with the other kids? If my son is eating/snacking later at night, Icecream, yogurt, cheese, chips, etc. My other 3 kids are also going to want to eat at that time too even though they are not hungry nor do they need to eat then. I don't want to cause weird food struggles and also don't want to seem like I'm playing *favorites* which is inevitably what my young kids will think ("he gets to eat Icecream every night that's not fair"). I can see it now!

If he skips a meal then leave his portion in the fridge, that’s what he eats after dinner. Or he can eat an apple. Filling up on fake foods and sugar are the opposite of what he needs. With that diagnosis it should be 100% natural, nothing fake, nothing highly processed, mostly homemade diet.

I would talk to your child's doctor, OP. I don't think this is good advice for all kids. Our DS was low on the growth charts, so literally eating anything with fat was recommended.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here,

Those are all great pieces of advice. I will talk to his psych about non-stim meds and also embrace alternative eating times or consider just medicating anyway. I know the snacking at night drives my husband bonkers. He grew up in a "kitchen is closed" kinda house so doesn't like when the kids start snacking so soon after dinner.

How do you handle the snacking with the other kids? If my son is eating/snacking later at night, Icecream, yogurt, cheese, chips, etc. My other 3 kids are also going to want to eat at that time too even though they are not hungry nor do they need to eat then. I don't want to cause weird food struggles and also don't want to seem like I'm playing *favorites* which is inevitably what my young kids will think ("he gets to eat Icecream every night that's not fair"). I can see it now!

If he skips a meal then leave his portion in the fridge, that’s what he eats after dinner. Or he can eat an apple. Filling up on fake foods and sugar are the opposite of what he needs. With that diagnosis it should be 100% natural, nothing fake, nothing highly processed, mostly homemade diet.

I would talk to your child's doctor, OP. I don't think this is good advice for all kids. Our DS was low on the growth charts, so literally eating anything with fat was recommended.

That can be nachos with guacamole, banana with peanut butter, bagel with cream cheese. It doesn't need to involve neccessary sugar. Most of us aren't feeding our adhd kids ice cream at 9pm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We don’t do meds on weekends or summers. Kids need to grow mentally as well and learning to use natural techniques to address impulsivity is a life skill we want to foster, even if it is more difficult. We dig in a bit on his therapist, though! That helps.

This attitude drives me nuts. Because you're basically saying medication is a cheat or unnecessary if you only tried harder and put in the work. I think it underlies the support our kids need. And doesn't honor the struggle most of our kids have had to find medication that helps them be where they are. If your child needs medication to focus and be their best no amount of "using natural techniques" matters. It can't be both.

If you were to say "we stop meds and deal with the consequences" for whatever reason, be it food, growth, sleep, travel, logistics, then that is your choice. And I get that and have made that choice at times too. But when I do I acknowledge "my kid is struggling because their medication isnt available right now"

But framing it like stopping medication equals growth mindset is just condescending and ill informed. I would think your kid picks up on the fact that you think less of them because they need meds.