8 Year Old Daughter - Garden City,MI

could be an allergy to something new in the house or anxiety about something. Maybe something is bothering or someone is bothering her at school. Why don't you start taking her to lunch on the weekends just you and her. Don't ask her directly just ask her how is school? How is so and so. Talk a little about stuff. You can ask her are you ok is here anything I can help you with or just listen without reacting. And mean it. She might not answer the first few times but keep it up and it will work. My daughter loves going out to lunch with me for a girls afternoon or night out.

Ignore the rude-o comments. People forget their manners sometimes!

Could she be stressed? I would sometimes get really bad stomach pains from being stressed from school when I was little. That's the only thing that comes to mind...maybe some stress somewhere is causing her pain? I haven't heard of ADHD causing that. But mine wasn't just at night. I felt pain during the day too.

I hope you figure out what it is. And...you're a good mom. Don't let any of the comments, from people who have no idea who you are, get to you. I totally see why you would feel hurt, though, just know that they don't know the whole situation and THEY SHOULD ALL TRY TO BE MORE POLITE! (come on, ladies! even if you think it's obvious she should take her kiddo to the doctor, you could say it NICELY). Some people go to the doctor for different things. It took my mom a few years to take me to the dr for it. And nothing was diagnosed.

I don't have a child who does this, but I did when I was little. The scratching to bleeding (I saw the original post earlier) is what I would be worried about the most. I did something similar to this when I was younger. It was anxiety. I am not normally a person who struggles with anxiety, but for some reason for a few years in childhood it really affected me. I couldn't turn my mind off and my mind would go and go...it lead to a lot of anxiety at night. At the time, my pediatrician sent me to a pediatric psychologist. This does not mean I was crazy!! They work on everything from food aversions, restlessness, children whose parent's are going through a divorce, and then more serious problems...which I did not have (and I assume your daughter doesn't have!!) I have also never even close to had ADD/ADHD. More then that, the stomach complaints could be anxiety, also.

Has your daughter had any new things happen in the past year? New siblings, parents breaking up, new school, a friend moving away, loss of a pet, moving, etc? This all could be a reaction to an even that has caused her stress, which could cause her to be tense and anxious at night.

Boys do deal with this, it probably just hasn't been asked about recently. Good luck, I hope the problem gets solved.

This doesn't sound like adhd.... this sounds like a physical issue and I would have been at the Dr.s office weeks ago getting her checked out.

This does not indicate ADHD. It's possible she has an allergy to something. I would take her to the doctor.

Melatonin is not a vitamin, and it's unlikely your daughter would need it. I think you should take her to a different doctor than your friend's doctor.

her stomach hurts so badly that she brings a trash can to bed some nights? this has been going on for 2 months and you haven't sought medical attention yet? idk, call me nuts, but i'd darn sure RULE OUT a medical problem after a few days of that before i'd chalk it up to attention or ADHD. get her to a physician for a check up and go from there. hope it's "nothing".

I'm really confused because I don't see any details about the issue now other than your daughter having tummy pain at night, a skin issue being treated with cortisone, and sleep disturbance or sleep-wake cycle disorder. Plus other posters referring to "scratching until she bleeds" and apparently there was question as to whether she could be ADHD? Was the original post edited out completely and then rewritten instead of added to? I don't even see a thread history other than this one single thread.

I has the confuzzles.

What made you think she might have ADHD? Sleep disturbances and physical ailments such as the skin disorder and stomach pain wouldn't indicate ADHD. Behaviors that include too short and/or too long of an attention span, hyperactivity, in/ability to follow directions, in/ability to focus, if she's oppositionally defiant, etc.

Skin issues, especially if she has a rash, could be due to allergies to something. Does it seem like it could be eczema? Perhaps if she's having this sort of skin irritation coupled with the upset stomach and pains, especially if she has diarrhea and/or constipation, she could have a Milk Allergy where she's allergic to milk or she's allergic to Milk Protein/casein. Or she could have the allergy AND be Lactose Intolerant (can't digest milk sugar aka lactose).

Other causes for skin and stomach upset besides stress responses: sugar substitutes like Splenda, Truvia, saccharine, aspartame; too much sugar in the diet; wheat and/or gluten intolerance; sensitivities to chemical food colorings and high fructose corn syrup even if she never seemed to have reactions to these things before. Even insect stings or seasonal contact allergies. I've had stomach cramps from having a stomach full of postnasal drip due to my allergies before.

The thing about allergies is that with each new exposure, they get worse than the last one, so they can start off very small and not noticeable or easy to explain away. But then they start getting bigger and more serious.

If she's stressed out or anxious, that can cause eczema and skin reactions. It can cause physical pains especially in the stomach. It can certainly cause sleep disturbances.

Melatonin is safe to take, although since she's a child I would start with 1/2 a mg and if that doesn't work, the next night go to 1 mg, then the next night up another 1/2 mg but I wouldn't go more than a 3 mg dose. You can buy it in liquid or you can buy it in tablets that are in 1 mg or 3 mg (that I've seen at CVS).

Our bodies naturally make melatonin: it's the hormone that our brain makes that makes us feel drowsy and sleepy and then makes us yawn to let us know "Hey, doofus, go to bed." Some people, like insomniacs and people with Autism, don't make enough melatonin so they take the supplement. The supplement is non-addictive and it clears the system within a few hours of taking it. It's safe for children and adults. I have to give it to my middle daughter, who is 8 yrs old and has Autism. I trust it implicitly but I also take it with her pediatrician being aware of it as well as her neurologist.

Maybe you could give actual details about what it is you want? Because you have done nothing but tell us your daughter has skin issues and the tummy thing. SO, lets see an allergy or something? Before you jump on some of the well meaning people hear maybe you could actually monitor yourself, because these ladies are only trying to help from the not even half hearted information you gave us.

Um, is there a reason you haven't just taken her for a check-up, just to be sure? Sounds like waiting would do more harm than good. This could be an allergy or some other sort of issues. Scratching-to-bleeding should be taken seriously if for no other reason than it opens up the skin to infection. Either Drama-Queen or Nervous-Wreck it sounds like a professional opinion would not be remiss.

Could there be an allergy issue?