Or can a baby be too hyperactive?

[EightOfHearts]

This might seem like a silly question but I keep getting comments about my 8 month old and it happens so often it's starting to make me wonder. For example; he's a live one, he must be a handful at home, isn't that a bit early to be doing X, he never stops, he needs a lot of simulation etc.

For context he's super active and always has been. Constantly on the move and just never stops. He won't be cuddled and just squirms if you try.

When I was pregnant he would kick non stop and has reached all his movement related milestones really early. For instance he rolled from back to tummy at 4 days old and started army crawling at 4 months. My husband says I'm being silly and it's a good thing but I'm worried it could be an early sign of something. He does seem really hyperactive compared to the other babies we know (I know I shouldn't be comparing).

I would be really grateful for any advice. If anyone else has had a baby like this, how did they grow up?

I really don’t understand what it is that you are scared for? Your baby is happy, what is the problem?

I probably am being silly. I guess I'm thinking potentially ADHD or similar but I know it's way too soon to be able to tell.

Why would you be scared of ADHD?

Yes I had a baby like this. Yes, he has adhd (and autism). At 8 months old we were asked not to come back to baby Sensory as he simply wouldn't stay still or engage in any of the activities like the other babies.

4 day old babies cant plan and execute a roll, they just do it accidently. Just enjoy having a happy active baby

Well there's a shortage of medication at the moment which seems to be causing a lot of families a very hard time based on the news.

Thanks for the reply. We've just been asked to leave a class too actually. To be fair they moved us to a different sort of class but he's the youngest there by a year.

2/3 of mine were / are like this. I use to describe my eldest a whirlwind of destruction… I remember the bliss when she finally watched an episode of peppa pig when she was 18 months

Not all ADHDers need medication and you certainly wouldn't get it for an 8 month old so you have a long while before you need to worry about accessibility of medication.

Framing of ADHD is often negative, but it is important to remember it is not a deficit it is a difference.

"finally"? at 18 months? That is very early for TV programmes

3 of mine were like that. One has adhd and asd, the other 2 have asd. My eldest who is like this is now a 17 year old teenage sloth who loves his bed. The other 2 are 12 and 9 and still lively. It is too early to tell at this age but I think we all worry about this sort of thing with our first. My eldest loved the company of toddlers, being poked, prodded and having rattles waved vigorously in his face. I used to think it was because I'd had a miscarriage before him and he was subconsciously missing his older sibling. Absolute rubbish of course but I worried about it a lot at the time.

When your little one is a bit older, or even now really, make sure they get lots of fresh air and exercise. I used to struggle to have the energy to keep going out all the time as he never slept much either but it did help calm them down a bit when they were toddlers. Soft play is good too, lots of padded surfaces for when they are at that stage when they want to climb on things and then leap off.

I have ADHD and though there are elements of it that are positive, it's not straightforward and it's hard to get a handle on. I take absolutely no offence at someone being worried that their child might struggle with it.

My eldest son started army crawling at about 4.5 months. He is now a very chilled but hardworking 20 year old.

Because the child's life will be difficult.

Adhd is not a deficit? It's literally in the title.
However, my 10 year old would tell you he very much feels it is a negative thing. He gets very upset by what the adhd causes in him. He does not find much positive about it. Except his queue jump ability!

Thanks. I'm not trying to be disparaging at all about people with ADHD or autism. My baby just seems a bit different and I'm wondering what it means if anything.

Why might a mother be worried that her baby may have a disability? Well, let's think 🤔

My now 3 year old was really active since she started rolling (at around 6 months) and I felt she was a little late to start rolling but within a month of doing so she was crawling and pulling up to stand and has been non-stop since. She’s been really good at climbing since a very young age and we had to rearrange furniture to keep her safe as she wouldn’t listen/understand no matter how much we stopped her. She’s most likely autistic but no diagnosis yet.

She wouldn’t squirm away during cuddles but she wouldn’t stay still long enough to be read a book, for example. At the time, I also
got a lot of comments but I just thought she was really active until other concerns about her development emerged later on.

DC1 was like this. At 8 months they were walking around furniture from room to room and napped with their eyes partly open in case they were missing anything.

ADHD diagnosis came later.

My 3yo is a whirlwind. She has been since she could move. Sat up at 4 months, crawled at 6, walked at 9mo. She launches herself from one sofa to the other with a 3-4ft gap so DH and I did chuckle to ourselves when completing the 3yr health visitor questionnaire that asked if she could jump 6 inches.

However, she can sit still and play with toys, colour, watch programmes, etc. She’s just an active and energetic child.

Should have added that she hasn’t napped since she was about 18mo.

My son was like this, so was I according to my mum haha, Ds is 6 now and still a whirlwind. It's great your baby is happy and boisterous

Op I understand what you're saying.

My eldest em was like this and yes, he was diagnosed with adhd and autism.

He was a very precocious talker (full sentences at 18 months that complete strangers could understand) and on the go from 5am until bedtime and a terrible sleeper.

Your child may just be 'busy', or there may be more to it. And yes adhd can be hard to cope with so let's not pretend otherwise (my eldest is now 22 so I'm not new to this). I also have adhd but come from an era where I was just told I was stupid/a daydreamer/bit paying attention etc etc so I know if I'd been diagnosed back then, perhaps I'd have had more support but hey ho!

I knew my son. I went on to have two more and although they obviously had their own quirks, their behaviour was what you'd consider within the range of 'average' or 'normal' and was completely different to my first.

You know your child. Always be balanced, take a broad view of things and try not to catastrophise, but I'd be watchfully waiting and keeping a log if you're concerned.

The big tell for me was when his pre school told me they thought they couldn't support him and felt he'd do better in a more specialist setting. He was 2.

Adhd and asd can be significantly hard to deal with, as a parent. It doesn't mean you don't love them, but yes, it can be hard, so I understand why op might be concerned.

Worrying about it won't change if he has ADHD or not unfortunately only time will tell.

He does sound like my DS who has ADHD but they don't diagnosis until at least 6/7 so you'll have to wait.

If he is plenty of exercise and positive talk and feedback (children with ADHD hear a lot more negative feedback).

Which can really affect their self esteem and ADHD makes emotional regulation harder so the two are thought to compound with each other.

So with our DS it's things like I noticed you put your shoes on without us having to ask.

Structure and routine is important as it is for any child.

Finally knowledge is power if your DS does have ADHD then knowing about it and understanding will better equip you both to meet it's challenges and opportunities.

I have only anecdotal evidence here which is that my MIL talks about how my brother in law was like this (crawled at 4 months, walked at 8 etc) and he is neurodivergent. But he is wasn’t diagnosed until he was many years older because you truly can’t diagnose neurodiversity in babies. There is a massive ‘normal’ range, and for the babies at either end of that range it’s very hard to tell if they’re just outliers or if there is something else going on.

You’ll see other signs as he gets older if there is something else going on. For now, I would try not to worry - there may be nothing at all to worry about.