Super alert babies.. did you make it through?

[Catheroooo]

I have a very lovely but super alert 8 month old DD. she's been awake since day 3! She needs constant activity to keep her happy and is not a drop off in the car seat, pram or anywhere apart from her cot kind of girl as long as it's dark and quiet. She's tuned in to the drop of a pin... I watched a baby 2 months younger than her simply drop off today, and lay in a bouncer quite happily... things mine woukd never do.

It's hard but equally I can see all her cogs turning in her brain. I just wondered if you had a similar alert baby in the past how they turned out? Sleep is erratic and I'm signed up for it of course but I just was curious what the future will be like! I can't imagine sleep being easier until she can understand what I'm saying.

Oh, the glorious summer when DS was 2.5. "Birds up, me up"

Yep, could have written your post! I've got 2 boys, 2 years old and 3 months old. They are both exactly as you described! The 2 year old is well advanced in language skills and clearly bright but has always been on the slower side (not delayed) with physical skills. 2 year old did not really nap until about 14 months old and then settled into a nice routine of one 2 hour afternoon nap each day. He has to have dark room and his cot though - he has never just fallen asleep anywhere, not even on my lap. 3 month old seems to be going exactly the same way!! I found it really hard with my first as I wasn't prepared for it but yes, we got through!! I just kept going out and about a lot. I'm more laid back about the second one as I was half expecting him to be the same. Also, I'm out with the toddler each day so not sitting at home stewing that he's not napping, like I was doing 2 years ago with my first!! All the best with your little one

Yep my first like that. She slept through consistently finally at 3. Always alert. My Mum used to wear out shoes walking her round with the pram so I could get a rest. Very bright. Her little sister is equally as bright but ate and slept much easier. She’s still as placid compared to the whirlwind of dd1.

My DD was like this she learnt to talk very early and her vocabulary was very advanced, she is now in her 20s and is very energetic and bubbly

DD1 was like this. She didn't nap from 10 weeks old and rolled, crawled, climbed and walked pretty early. She climbed the stairs before she sat (couldn't see the point). Thankfully she did STTN reasonably young and was not (and still is not) an early waker. An early writer as well, I have a Mother's Day written when she was 3y3m. At 10 she is very bright (teachers describe her as a sponge, in KS1 she'd sit and talk me through her day at school in great detail so I would know everything she'd learnt about John Cage or WW2 or whatever - it was incredible), very sporty, complete bookworm thankfully although of course that's her brain racing while her body stays still. She wants to be a scientist like me and we have long conversations about that. It can be tiring but I love it!

DS1 was like this. Full on all the time and dropped all naps at 12 months, I wouldn't have coped if I hadn't gone back to work at 4 months for a break. Now almost 16 he still has the attention span of a knat although is very bright.

My DD was like this from a week or so old. She is almost 3 now and is a delight most of the time! I love how inquisitive she is, and how she looks at the world, and when I spent time with others her age I'm struck but how much more interesting she is and how much more she can do / day etc. However the other side of the coin is she is demanding, questioning, restless, and gets easily frustrated! I think it goes with the territory. Like your daughter she wasn't a great sleeper - too switched on. It's got better over time but still isn't amazing! I wouldn't have her any other way though (apart from I'd like more sleep thank you please)

This is my son too.

Born with eyes wide open and he never bloody slept not even after delivery he was just straining to look around.

He slept in 20/30 minute stretches for months. So much hard work.

He’s nearly 6 now. He’s still hard work. He needs A LOT of mental stimulation, likes to constantly be learning. He’s still a light sleeper. He loves it now he can read and learn for himself. He finds it very hard to switch off. We still can’t really have late nights at all (anything past 30 minutes of normal bed time) because he’s up early regardless and is a real handful if tired.

His younger brother in contrast slept 5 hours a night when newborn and had a few hours in the day too, entertains himself with any toys for hours with little input needed from me.

Attention span of a gnat! That’s my son too. Very bright but can’t stick to one activity for very long and easily frustrated.

No one believed m DS wouldn't sleep at all, even as a baby. He was super-active from the word go and taught himself to walk around the playpen quite young. He was so active he was never a chubby typical baby and although he put on weight, there was always a comment from the HV. When we went to see the GP because they HV had scared me so much, the GP commented that she had never seen such an alert baby in 30+ years.

Mine was like this, we used to call her the Meerkat, even very young she was always hyper alert to anything going on. She was the type of baby who was always on the look out to take offence
At about 2.5 she chilled out a lot, and now as a teenager she is so laid back she's horizontal.

I remember someone saying why don’t you try a rotating mobile above her cot to try and get her to sleep!!!! I could never see how that would ever have worked.

I love the meerkat nickname... it's so true! And yes, the mobile!!! I love how people who have no idea just offer these (with good heart) ridiculous suggestions as if a) we haven't already tried it, and b) it is some amazing solution... My house is a graveyard for these... Ewan the flipping sheep, baby swings, bumbos, mobiles, dummies, a nice cranial osteopath has £70 Of my hard earned and much missed cash... all you need is a blackout blind and a fan...

Sounds rather like my DGD,now nearly 12. Her DM (my DD) and I have always joked that she is incredibly nosey! It has always been a major battle to get her to go to sleep at night,purely because she's scared she's going to miss something! She refused to nap in the daytime from the age of 10 months,which was pretty wearing for my DD. She was walking at 11.5 months and was reluctant from then on to go in the pushchair. Once she reached 18 months,it was practically impossible to get her in the pushchair without a major struggle. Now,she is an extremely bright and intelligent young lady,she did brilliantly in her SATS last term,and according to her teachers in year 5 and 6,had the reading age of a child of 14/15 and is advanced in her use of language.

She is so active but speech wise not so much, we havent had any babbles yet.
Mine never babbled, and speech wise was at the bottom limit of the normal range as a toddler (5 words at 18 months). Speech sounds were mostly at the later age limit too. He went from single words to (mostly) grammatically correct sentences, no baby talk though. Not autistic, but has some autistic traits, now a smart geeky 12 year old.

@Cachailleacha my eldest son did this! Hardly spoke, his first word was freaking GIRAFFE and his words was few and far between until he started speaking in proper sentences. He’s always been well spoken but it’s come from nowhere.
He was such an alert baby, and God he was a shit he’s a lovely bright 11 year old now

What did you guys do in the evening? I've just posted but I woukd love an evening out with my partner but shedoesnt sleep a long stretch in the evening (usually between 30 mins to 2.5 hours before she wakes). I always give her boob but sometimes my partner settles her.ive never been confident she's not hungry as she is such a snacker by day. I feel cruel to leave her though if she wakes and expects me but gets grandma who I know will comfort her but I worry if she's hungry. I can't express and she doesn't take a bottle. What did you do with your nonsleepers?

Love this thread! My 8 month DS is identical. Could have written all your posts :) I don’t get to go out in the evenings either as DS wakes every 30-90mins all night. Will only accept being breastfed back to sleep so we share a bed and I am totally exhausted.

He’s pretty awesome though.

I don't have personal experience, but my very intelligent brother was apparently very similar. Your last sentence jumped out and hit me, because when he was grown up, he said to my mum "Who was that woman who used to visit Nana. She had a long grey coat, and she used to say "I've brought some clothes, Ada, I thought they might do for the girls". My Mum was astonished, and said "You can't possibly remember that! She died when you were 8 months old". In case anyone is curious, Mrs Williams worked in a posh house as housekeeper. She used to sell the cast off clothing that her employer gave her!

That was my now almost six year old DD. She was alert from the very start. I remember her looking around the ward taking everything in at three days old. She walked and talked early and was very demanding. It was only when I had her brother who slept all the time that I realised how much hard work DD had been. Now at five she is an absolute delight and great company and still takes everything in.

I had one of these! It was really hard. Before she was born, my only experience of babies was that they slept loads and only woke up to feed. It was a very rude shock to have DD who basically wanted to be awake, looking at stuff and being entertained non-stop! She's now 3 and every bit as sharp and as fascinated by things she sees around her. She misses nothing! However, now we can talk about them it is so much easier!

Daughter was exactly same, then she started to walk refused to sit in a buggy, like some of the others kids turned out she’s just energetic and also very sporty

Your kid may be draining you right now but minute kid starts walking get the kid some hobbies that deplete their non stop energy..

It Gets better when they get older

Apart from one all my rest were like that to the point where I couldn;t do anything. The best part was that or flat looked like bombed due to not being able to tody up but the worst was that I couldn't eat a bite or go to the toilet. At 8 months he learnt to crawl and it got so much better because before he wanted people to pick him up and within seconds he had nicked the pen in your pocket while you picked him up and you hadn't noticed etc. My 2nd was also very alert but didn't want to be picked up. Unfortunately the other 2 took their time to walk so I had to pick them up until almost 18 months!

MIL would boast how she would have hers in the bouncy chair and would spend all day cleaning and cooking but she didn't have mine! I was not like that as a baby either! In fact they would put me in the cot and I would fall asleep.

My youngest is like this. She would always fight sleep and refuse naps, since she was a few weeks old! Never dropped off to sleep unless shes really tired and in her cot. If we're out for the day she will not nap until she cannot fight it any longer and even ten it'll only be for 20 minutes!

She was crawling at 5-6 months and walking at 10 months!

Now that she's 2 we're in quite a good routine, she will nap in the day for an hour or so but we have to be at home for that to happen. She has started to fight bedtime though and sometimes won't fall asleep until 9. I'm mentally preparing myself to say goodbye to naptime!

My 15 month old DD is similar. From the day she was born, she was just so...AWAKE! She was just looking around, wide eyed from day one.

I’d never known a baby like that. We would go out for pram walks with friends with newborns, they would all just be snoozing away. She would just be watching everything!

She does now sleep fantastically, but only in her cot, in the dark, with white noise. Pram or car naps just don’t happen, and I end up with an overtired, grumpy mess of a toddler! It means I’m tied to the house between 12-2 everyday, but at least I get to put my feet up!