ADHD/ADD Question

J. I have been in your exact spot. My son is ADHD and acted just like that, even when he was asleep his little heart would race, i had to hold him down in my lap to be still and he would shake....so yes he has adhd i can bet on it. Take him to the dr and see what they say. My son was put on Ritilin in the 3rd grade. Like i said take him to the dr and tell them everything and see what they say and bring up the adhd and add.

Hi Jssica
my son is 5 and I believe he is ADD or ADHD, his kindergarten teacehr sees it, but he peditrician said the test him when is 6
!!!! But you may be able to speak to your peds doctor and see if thy can teat earlier. Good Luck.

Out of personal experience...yeah you can sort of tell from infancy...you'll see certain behaviors that just seem to get worse as the child grows...but not all of them show symptoms that early on. I will tell you this though...there's not a doctor in the world that will diagnose or treat a child that young for ADHD. They started watching my daughter at 3 years old saying that she's hyper but I won't let them make the diagnosis or treat her until she's ready for school. Some kids are just hyper toddlers and grow out of it by kindergarten and others don't. Plus over time the meds can have adverse effects on things like the heart and liver, so I try to hold them off as long as I can. Just set rules and limits and consequences if those rules and limits are broken and be consistant with it. Be patient because if the child is ADD or ADHD then her short term memory is going to suck. And when you get stressed out about her behavior, remind yourself that it may not be in her control so calm down and stick to the rules, limits and consequenses. The only reason I even medicate my kids when they hit school age, is so that they can focus enough to learn what they need to learn and so that they don't disrupt the class and hinder their classmates learning experience.

THAT IS WAY TO YOUNG TO EVEN CONSIDER ADD OR ADHD. YOU HAVE A TYPICAL 7 MONTH OLD BABY. ENJOY HER WHILE SHE IS YOUNG. AS YOU KNOW FROM YOUR FIRST..BABIES DO NOT STAY BABIES VERY LONG. I HAVE 3 KIDS AND EACH OF THEM WERE SO DIFFERENT EVEN FROM DAY ONE..JUST A SUGGESTION BUT MAKE SURE YOU ARE GETTING TIME FOR YOURSELF TO RELAX AND UNWIND. SOMETIMES HAVING 2 KIDS CAN WEAR YOU DOWN AND ON THOSE DAYS ALL YOU SEE IS THE HYPERNESS..CRYING..WHATEVER GETS TO YOU. BUT LEARN TO LAUGH AND TAKE LIFE WITH A GRAIN OF SALT (TRITE I KNOW BUT ITS HOW I GET THROUGH THOSE OFF DAYS) GOOD LUCK

This is scary. Why is everyone so anxious to rush and get their child(ren) Dx with SOMETHING? They think if they can put a label on something, that fixes it. The doctor will give your child some kind of meds, and the roller coaster ride begins. I'm most curious how my generation made it through, without all these cell phones, pampers, cable tv, video games, COMPUTERS and a "designer" drug/Rx for everything under the sun? I hope your baby is fine, and you don't have to do anything else. PERHAPS... like my two daughters, my first one was a "perfect" little baby/girl. Never any trouble. Well, when Jess came along, my second one, from DAY ONE, was a moaner, groaner, restless, made herself the center of attention, was into everything, was a definite over achiever and a go getter...I'm thinking how can these two be SO different? Well, I am only speculating about this, after knowing my daughters now for 30 years, that as adults, my youngest daughter just has a MUCH more outgoing personality, and from DAY ONE, was the one demanding more attention, time, got into more things etc etc. Maybe nothing is wrong with your baby, as nothing was wrong with mine. Just totally different personality from the first one. GIVE HER TIME to grow and develop! GOOD LUCK.

There are no ADHD medications which have been approved for use on children under 6 years old. There's a diagnostic grey area between 4 and 6 years of age, but it would be rare to find a doctor who would diagnose ADD before age 6. 7 months is definitely way too young for an accurate diagnosis.

If you are worried about your baby, you might want to look into the early intervention services in your area. If you have concerns about your child's development, they will provide a free evaluation and free therapy if it turns out to be needed. In Indiana the EI program is called First Steps. Your doctor can provide a referral for you, but you can just self-refer. If you go to http://www.state.in.us/fssa/first_step/countysites.html you can figure out which 'cluster' your county is in, look up their website and find out how to contact them.

I think that 7 months is a little early to try and say your daugher has ADD...we waited until my son was 7 before we got him diagnosed. I am not sure about an exact age but I think it's atleast 4 or older. My 5 month old does the same thing....she is just a higher needs baby. My 18 month old was never like that. So I wouldn't be thinking ADD just yet. Have you tried getting a sling of some kind and wearing DD2? I know it helps my DD when she is snuggled up close to me. Good luck mama and if you would like to talk about slings you can e-mail me!

A.

That sounds like a very normal 7 month old to. ADD/ADHD is extremely overdiagnosed. Most experts agree that it's not even possible to diagnosis it until AT LEAST AGE 7!! Most the kids who "have it" do NOT have it.. it's a chemical inbalance in the brain and actually not that common. Most kids change the behavior with parenting changes (must be consistent), routines/schedules and food/diet changes (many 'add' kids actually act that way because of food intolerance/allergies!). Anyways... 7 months is WAY WAY WAY too young even think about putting that label on!!

With 5 kids 2 (ages 13 and 19)of whom are ADD kids, it has been my experience that they will not diagnose them until they are actually in school. And it runs in my family also but so far only 2 of the 5 have been diagnosed. My 5 year old I believe may be as I see signs in him as I did the others but doctors are hesiotant to medicateso young. Good Luck and feel free to email me personally if you have any questions,I have researched the subject extensively. ____@____.com

All babies are different and some are more high need than others...why does everyone need to slap a label on kids? Kids are kids let them be...esp. 7 months....sad.

don't know if this will help you at all.i have a now 12 year old son with ADHD and i took him off his meds over 3 years ago.they didnt work for him just made him mean.hes doing better off of them.but thats a hole other subject sorry. but anyways if you bring this up to your doctor they wont beable to do much if anything she is to young. my son acted that way from the time of birth also. and when he hit 2 it was even worse.which he started his terrible 2's at 14 months lol. but if you give them alot of attention and try and find things to get there attention ,different toys, cartoons, music anything they seem to like,seemed to work for me. my son from a very young age would sit and watch cartoons for hours,and yes there are different cartoons that will help them learn which is what i used.things with bright colors and music helped.as for the store if you take her with you make sure you have something to distract her for her to play with.but you wont know for sure if she has ADD/ADHD for a while yet.she may just want alot of attention.there are many sites about ADD/ADHD check them out i did. i read up on it before our first visit to the doctor about it. im the one that told the doctor that i thought my son had ADHD because of the way he is.and i was right.but if a time comes and you have to put her on meds becareful of what ones shes on.nothing seemed to work for my son,and when he was on them he couldnt sleep so they had to give him something to sleep,he is a very happy and healthy 12 year old,and is learning everyday how to cope with ADHD.we just have to help him anyway we can.but if you feel the need by all means talk to the doctor because there could be other problems that might not even be ADD/ADHD.shes just to little to tell you if somethings wrong.best of luck and i hope something here can help you.

I was talking to my MIL this morning about just this thing. We were talking about what my husband was like as a baby and he sounds exactly like your baby. I know that they will not officially diagnose anything for a long time. I have been wondering a lot lately if there is a connection between ADHD and lack of melatonin in the brain. ADHD people seem to sleep less and when you sleep less that makes you unfocused and hyper. (At least from my experience with kids and I have been a nanny for over 14 years.) I don't know what age you can start giving children melatonin but that is my husband's saving grace. It helps him get the sleep he needs so that he can focus during the day. I know of a kid as young as six that is on it so you might talk to someone at a place like GNC and see what they think about an age you could start that. I don't recommend the ADHD drugs even if they do diagnose it. They really are not good things.