Talk with your child’s doctor about creating these windows of opportunity by revising the medication schedule. You want something appealing and full of calories and nutrition. As soon as your child gets home, offer a healthy yet desirable snack. Your child might nibble at a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but will probably skip eating a meat sandwich. If your child does not like to eat typical breakfast foods, try a healthy supplement drink, which tastes like a milkshake, or a sports or protein bar. Any medication given the evening before will have worn off, and your child should be ready to eat. Start the day with a good, nutritious breakfast before the first dose is absorbed and affects their appetite. If this approach does not work, try to create what I call “windows of opportunity.” Rather than give the first dose as soon as your child wakes up, try to hold out until breakfast time. Some children seem to adjust to the medication, and their appetite returns. Look for Appetite Opportunities with Your ChildĪs a first step, continue on the medication for several weeks after you notice your child’s appetite loss. I hope my examples help you understand your child’s behavior so that you do not get angry when they won’t eat nutritious foods but will gobble up cookies or candy. Tell them, “No junk food until you eat.” You might have to hide or lock up the sweets to accomplish this. So, too, your child may have a loss of appetite and not feel hungry, yet they might ask for candy or other sweets. Suddenly your brain shifts and you feel hungry enough to want to eat more. So, being a good waiter, he brings out a tray of desserts. Suppose the waiter knows how you will react to offering more bread and butter at the end of the meal. Let me return to the restaurant example to illustrate what it feels like to have no appetite and to be confronted with the need to eat. I could not eat another bite.” This is how your child feels if they have no appetite and you insist that they eat. Your waiter offers you more bread and butter. You eat too much, and begin to feel uncomfortably full. Picture yourself in a four-star restaurant. Some parents think that people can eat when they are not hungry. Power struggles at mealtime only make things worse. Medication-related appetite loss is real. Do not demand that your child eat if they are not hungry. How to Stimulate an ADHD Appetiteįirst, let me stress what you do not want to do. The challenge you and the prescribing doctor must deal with is weighing the medication’s benefits against the loss of appetite. In fact, many patients report that their appetite returns to a more normal schedule after they have been on stimulant medications for at least a couple of months. If they are encouraged to eat when they feel hungry, possibly having a second dinner before bedtime, appetite difficulties usually become less problematic for a child and the worried parent. Many patients taking stimulants eat very little during the day while the medication is most active, feel slightly hungry in early evening, and get very hungry later in the evening. Diminished appetite, though, is often delayed appetite. However, a small percentage of individuals who take these medications lose their appetite, which may result in weight loss. Using these medications can make the difference between an individual’s struggling or succeeding in school or at work, causing family conflicts or getting along at home, having friends or not. Specifically, they are methylphenidate ( Ritalin), dextro-amphetamine ( Dexedrine), and a mixture of dextro- and levo-amphetamine ( Adderall).Īt the proper dose and timing, these stimulants decrease a child’s activity level, their inattention and disorganization, and their impulsivity. The group of medications usually prescribed to treat ADHD in children, adolescents, and adults are called psycho-stimulants, or just plain stimulants.
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