Early ADHD symptoms in toddlers — any similar experiences?

[Sisiey]

Hello everyone. Our child is 16 months old, and after we told our pediatrician that he is a very difficult and restless child, she said she sees some red flags for ADHD.

During the appointment, he didn’t sit still for even a second, ignored the toys completely, and only wanted to open and close doors and bang on cabinets. She said he is still too young for any diagnosis, so for now we just have to wait and observe.

On the other hand, he follows commands very well, says around 5 words, and overall she said he is cognitively advanced for his age. His ASQ-3 scores were almost at the maximum. He is careful not to hurt himself, generally aware of his surroundings, responds to his name, points at things, and understands a lot, including “no.”

The main issue is that he absolutely cannot focus on one activity or toy for long, and whenever we are in a new place, he becomes completely uncontrollable :(

My question is for moms with children who have ADHD — what were the first signs you noticed, and how did you handle them?

Wow I totally relate to this. My DS now diagnosed with ADHD moved around all the time in utero. Then he turned breach - moved back - turned breach again.

The midwife told me this one would be trouble.

Anyone else's baby able to sort of crawl by 2 months? I've also got a video of DC wriggle/commando creeping off a rug onto the floor as a TINY baby. Again, I didn't really know it wasn't normal development.

DC also has ASD so some crossover there.

I have at least one with ADHD. The thing about not being able to focus on one thing at a time is completely false. It was one reason for delayed diagnosis in the late teens for my child. "She can concentrate, sometimes for long periods." Children with ADHD can hyperfocus. Especially on special interests. And no, I'm not mixing it up with autism. That is something common to both diversities.

My child was always far 'busier' than others, climbed everything, but also very bright, advanced academically, impulsive at times. I could see them doing the cupboard thing if allowed, which they weren't, but because they'd be wanting to explore and find out what was in them. Not slamming cupboards for the sake of slamming cuboards.

Yes, my first rolled back to front at 6 weeks and was able to drag themselves all around, fully mobile, by 4 months. Again, I didn't know it wasn't normal. I knew they were achieving milestones early, but didn't think anything of it.

Op to answer your questions these are what worked for me.

I found I had to stand my ground in being so much more patient with him than others who think they are experts on standard issue toddlers will want you to be. Especially with things that require concentration eg potty training, learning first independence steps, understanding ‘no’ instructions. We learned calm repetition many many times was the key.

Trust yourself as the expert in your child. Do not let anyone else tell you behaviour is a deliberate wrong choice if you strongly sense it is a developmental readiness issue.

Encourage, support and praise so that positivity is there throughout as this protects mental health and keeps you close to him.

Be alert for signs of other ND. Do the MCHAT frequently and be alert to any autistic behaviours or speech issues and early intervention really helps. It might be that there is no ADHD or ASD or speech issues and all goes wonderfully smoothly, but being alert in case help is needed with any developmental skills really helps.

Actively help with sleep by planning physical exercise (playground, walks etc) which also helps with emotional wellbeing. Putting in place a really calm sleep routine with bath, bedtime story, bed which never varies and being flexible to support any emotional or other scaffolding needed at bedtime eg I ended up having to co sleep with ours and then sleep independence developed really well in pre school years.

Feed them a good healthy diet eg it has been shown that healthy food and a good amount of protein help children with ADHD

Yes totally. Was also able to high vault out of his cot at a young age. And when he got to to the rolling stage, he’d roll out of the room.

My other two babies were very still. I had to get a play pen for him.

I think not all people with ADHD have excess energy. I definitely don't, I want to fall asleep half the time unmedicated. It's part of why they used to give different subtypes, hyperactive/not hyperactive (inattentive) but apparently it's now recognised they are all one and the same thing. My most energetic child is the one I suspect doesn't have ADHD but it's too young to tell.

For my DC and me the hyperactivity is mainly internal, our brains don't switch off. DS1 has always struggled to get to sleep until the early hours of the morning and literally never stopped talking even in his sleep. DS2 used to just be awake for multiple hours in the middle of the night because he had something to figure out and he had to work on it. Now he is older he has this burning curiosity which must be satisfied to the exclusion of all else including sense of self preservation.

DD1 would not lie on her back. I told the Health Visitor at 3 days old and she didn't believe me, until she saw me put her in a gro-bag, on her back. She lifted both legs in the air and dumped herself to the side.

She didn't sleep at night, at all, for the first 6 weeks and would scream unless she was very firmly patted on the back all night. Then she gradually started to fall asleep at 05.30 am, then 5 am, then 4.30 am, etc.

She would lift her feet for kisses in the shopping trolly. She couldn't walk (LD) but could crawl with frightening efficiency.

We had to fit electromagnet lock to the front door, two stair gates stacked in her bedroom. Perspex sheeting on the bannister, etc

@Slightyamusedandsilly my dd would get across the room by lifting her bum when she was on her back. I remember googling if she was a genius, or maybe part worm. She was definitely only 6-8 weeks when she started this.

The problem is that we can see that something is not right and that he is different. He makes very fast movements and is generally very quick. Since he was little, if he had to roll from his back onto his stomach, he would do it very skillfully and quickly, using his own technique. Everyone noticed it, even the doctors, but they thought it was a good thing.

He is not very active when it comes to movement — for example, he is afraid to ride or climb onto a toy truck and prefers to be pushed instead. He only throws himself around when we are next to him; otherwise, he is careful. In the stroller he just sits and watches, without jumping or kicking, although sometimes he growls when he gets very fed up.

Since he was a baby, he has never had problems with sleep. But he starts crying very, very quickly over everything — even if I close the door or do not give him something, he cries every 5–10 minutes. We can calm him down relatively quickly (within 1–2 minutes).

I always sensed my child was different from a baby. If it helps, they were also very capable and it didn't really impact them that much as we were very accepting of them just as they were. Sleep was fine until teething started, but that makes sense.

One of mine was less confident with their physical skills so I made sure they had the opportunity to grow in confidence with mother/toddler gym classes that involved opportunities to climb and balance, etc. The ADHD one was quite the opposite.

I suggest you just parent your child and see what happens. As he gets older, it will be easier to pin point any points of difference and get a diagnosis, if appropriate. Sometimes they may have more challenges learning things like managing time later on and traits such as being more impulsive, or other, but otherwise they are just kids who need the same from you as any other and are lots of fun and growing into interesting individuals.