If your child has adhd...

[adhdquestion]

...How were they as a baby? Were there early signs before age 1 and if so what were they please?

Thanks in advance

My DD is 13 and diagnosed with ADHD.

As a baby she would never self settle. Naps were only 30 minutes max and she'd wake several times each night.

At 6weeks old, when I met up with the rest of my antenatal group, their babies were all sleeping peacefully. DD spent the whole time awake looking at everyone. She was even lifting her head up to have a better look.

None of that definitely means ADHD of course. It was when DD started crawling and walking that the difference, and the fact she never stopped moving and never followed any kind of request/instruction, became much more obvious.

She rolled over very early, crawled very early, walked early and had very little sense of danger or physical risk avoidance. She's 10 now and extremely active, strong and forgetful!

Ds was a very relaxed, chilled baby who was a dream sleeper from just a few weeks old. He loved routine, he got around from 7 months old by rolling and then the commando crawl and was very fast! He didn't walk until 14 months though.

He talked early and was very clear. He has always loved reading and stories and learning. Now he uses reading as a way to calm down. He has always hated writing and drawing.

His problems weren't apparent until he started y1 when he struggled with the more formal, desk based learning and couldn't sit still or concentrate for very long and became quite unhappy at school.

He was dx in y3 and the medication helps loads.

He has attention deficit but not so much of the hyperactivity.

Quite high maintenance although i didnt realise until i had two calmer babies. Was happy if being carried around and loved movement, would bounce in his doorway bouncer until he was sick! Took ages to fall asleep and was also an early riser.

Really interesting thread as I’m convinced DD has ADHD but they won’t assess until she is at least six in our area.

She was born ten weeks early, had a bleed to the brain, birth father has ADHD (she’s adopted) and was a very high maintenance baby (didn’t sleep through until she was two; her v experienced foster carers said she was ‘different’ to any other baby they’d fostered), . She is now nearly four, very bright but scatty, clumsy, forever on the move (often spinning in circles) and the only thing she will focus on is books or screens (and even then she ignores the stories and does a running commentary on random aspects of the book’s pictures instead). Does this sound like possible early signs of ADHD?

Sorry OP, reading back my thread I’ve made it a bit ‘all about me’

My 16 year old daughter was diagnosed at 14, almost 15. Inattentive, not hyperactive. Nothing obvious as a young child. We all just thought she was a daydreamer, us and every teacher she ever had. It only became really obvious as a teenager. Time management is beyond terrible, very disorganised, extremely forgetful, struggles to retain stuff amongst other things. Now on medication which helps.

I don't think there is necessarily a correlation between being a poor sleeper and having ADHD.

My older one slept quite deeply, and used to have a decent nap in the day. My younger one (of the 2 with ADHD) never slept much at all. Still didn't all through her teens when every other teen in the world lies in. Still doesn't as a student.
Both were and still are as adults are very, very restless sleepers.
dc1 used to fall out of bed very regularly until he was about 9 or 10, and still sometimes after that. I shared a hotel room with him when he was 21 and he managed to fall out of bed then too . Neither of them can keep a quilt on and both of them somehow end up removing the sheet from underneath them when they are asleep.

Re other behaviours. I don't think there were particularly telling signs under the age of one. I mean, with hindsight you can find things if you are really looking, but then I probably could about my middle one who doesn't have it.

There's a reason they don't diagnose it until dc get to about 7 or 8 usually.

@Rufus27

Really interesting thread as I’m convinced DD has ADHD but they won’t assess until she is at least six in our area.

She was born ten weeks early, had a bleed to the brain, birth father has ADHD (she’s adopted) and was a very high maintenance baby (didn’t sleep through until she was two; her v experienced foster carers said she was ‘different’ to any other baby they’d fostered), . She is now nearly four, very bright but scatty, clumsy, forever on the move (often spinning in circles) and the only thing she will focus on is books or screens (and even then she ignores the stories and does a running commentary on random aspects of the book’s pictures instead). Does this sound like possible early signs of ADHD?

Could she possibly be autistic @Rufus27 ?

Thank you everyone for your responses. My little one sounds very similar to a few of yours but it's hard to know if it's just her personality/normal baby stuff or whether it could be early signs. I guess only time will tell!

DD1 was a poor sleeper and only really happy when being carried. She's a teen now, disorganised and forgetful, BUT she is absolutely delightful with it. She's almost immune to the normal teenage maladies of social media, friend dramas and exam pressures and is just a lovely, uncomplicated girl who still enjoys family time and doesn't take herself too seriously. I think this is partly due to her neuro diversity. So hang in there, OP, ADHD doesn't have to be all bad.

@WaltzingToWalsingham

DD1 was a poor sleeper and only really happy when being carried. She's a teen now, disorganised and forgetful, BUT she is absolutely delightful with it. She's almost immune to the normal teenage maladies of social media, friend dramas and exam pressures and is just a lovely, uncomplicated girl who still enjoys family time and doesn't take herself too seriously. I think this is partly due to her neuro diversity. So hang in there, OP, ADHD doesn't have to be all bad.

Thank you, that's so nice of you to be reassuring. Your dd sounds delightful

@Millie2008
She’s down for an autism assessment but the current waiting time is over two years in our area so it will be a while until we find out more. I used to think autism was more likely, but in the last year her social communication has really improved and she now seems to be able to play with other children and even instigate play albeit bossily (though given a choice, she generally prefers dolls or adults to her peers!). That’s what made me wonder about ADHD (which apparently runs in her birth family).

@WaltzingToWalsingham
Your DD sounds lush!

He was a happy baby generally, didn’t like being rocked to sleep. Couldn’t sleep in the same room as he woke easily from restless sleepers, and he was also a restless sleeper. Head banged, crawled and walked on schedule, but had speech delay.

There can be significant overlap between ADHD and ASD, I spent years trying to decide which was affecting DS1 as he didn't fit either exactly (or so i thought at the time). I now have two with ADHD dx and one with ASD dx and am still not sure which behaviour is due to what sometimes, its best fit rather than exact fit.

What affect does music have, if any? E.g does it help calm or aggravate at all?

My DD can generally take or leave music; she isn't really interested in it but she doesn't mind if other people have it on. However, sometimes she is feeling agitated or on edge about something, and then she asks for music to be switched off because it seems to increase the turmoil in her head.

Honestly I don't know that there were signs before he was 1.

He was always a very chilled baby. He did crawl fairly early, 8 months, and cruised a week later. Couldn't sit up until he was 9 months though. Also learned to roll in the "wrong" order. Also he didn't sleep through the night but I think that's quite normal.

My DS (ADHD and dyspraxia) was an awful sleeper (didnt sleep through til age 7) and was a nightmare to get down for naps.

He was extremely agitated in his sleep and would even sleep crawl (i soooo wish I had got a video of that!).

He walked at 10 months and from 11 months ran EVERYWHERE. Late talker which we thought was bilingualism but we now think is linked to his disability/high IQ - Drs have said his brain goes too fast for him to express himself orally or through writing.

Very emotional and determined even as a baby. Not interested in toys just moving. Despite not talking we could all easily understand what he wanted.

My ds is 8 and waiting for an assessment but as a baby he was hard work
Didn’t sleep through, refused bottles rather be crawling round, prefered to be carried round forward facing, had colic, wouldn’t sit in a chair, bouncer, jumperoo for longer than 5-10minutes, became a fussy eater,
Non stop talking from age 1. Full sentences from around 18m

We are currently looking at a possible diagnosis of adhd for ds2.

When he was a baby he was a bit random with everything- sometimes slept through, sometimes woke every couple of hours and everything in between. He always seemed in a hurry - eg he would breast feed for 20minutes - no more. He walked young (never really crawled).

As he got older he would have the most horrendous tantrums and if he could not do something immediately he would not bother. He spoke very fast and was sometimes difficult to understand but only because of the speed.

Completely different to ds1 who is autistic. He was consistently awful at sleeping. It felt he needed to be explicitly taught everything - how to feed, how to sleep, how to request things, how to talk, etc

@Rufus27 kid I knew who spun in circles was ASD. Spinning was her tick. By the time she made it to secondary she'd got it down to just twisting to look over each shoulder most of the time. One of the loveliest kids I've ever taught. She's probably in her 30s now :D

@Newusertothis

My ds is 8 and waiting for an assessment but as a baby he was hard work Didn’t sleep through, refused bottles rather be crawling round, prefered to be carried round forward facing, had colic, wouldn’t sit in a chair, bouncer, jumperoo for longer than 5-10minutes, became a fussy eater, Non stop talking from age 1. Full sentences from around 18m

Sounds just like mine!