Parents of children with ADHD? | ADHD Information

My son is almost 6 and sounds EXACTLY like epokey's son! (Are you sure you aren't describing my son? ) My son was also a wonderful baby. Very easy and slept well from the beginning.  But I began to notice something "not right" at about a year old.  He was WAY more active than other kids and never sat still!  At about 2 1/2 the impulsivity really kicked in and he literally could not control himself. NO disciplin worked...ever!  These were very, very hard times for everyone in my house

My son is so severe that they diagnosed him just shy of 4 yrs old and started him on medication.  The medication has literally saved his life! (or at least his quality of life!) They are an absolute miracle for him! He'll never be "normal" but at least he's happy and managable now!

I think it depends on what type of  ADHD a child has and how severe it is as to how young you notice it. If a child only has focusing problems or inattentive type then you may not notice it until they start school.  But if they are hyper/impulsive then you'll probably notice it a lot sooner.

 

"...I have a daughter & I'm actually a bit worried she may get it later. Thanks everyone! "

Well it's not contagious, if that's any relief...unless your daughter is of the attitude that "if you can't beat 'em, join em"!




































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It is so hard having 2 boys ages 8 and 10
with ADHD!! I try my best to keep peace around the home,
but it can be so stressful. Sometimes i feel like losin
it!!! I also have two younger sons that are only 2 and 4
and i see them already copying off of thier brothers. I
don't want that to even happen one bit. It scares me
because i don't think i could deal with two more acting
like this. I love my boys with all my heart it just feels
like sometimes nothing is helping them!!!Hey my dd is 6 and to be honest i knew something was not
quite right with her from the first week of her life. She
was a terrible baby screamed constenly and was never
comforted. Then when she was just crawling she would bang
her head off things until her nose bleed. Yes she was deff
a hand full. Then it was only this year that the school
noticed it when she moved from one school to the other the
new school have been so good. If u have not got backing
from them it is a very diff story when it comes to getting
them diagnosed. My dd only got diagnosed last week after
years of seeing the doctors and tests. Hi there, I noticed focus issues with my DD at age 2 in nursery school, etc. it got worse as the school years went on. At the end of 1st grade she was DOING GREAT but now since the start of 2nd grade things have gotten so much worse, lack of focus it can take her all day to do her work, she can stare at her pencil for over an hr. Hang in there.  Savannie's Mom40521.7248032407Honestly my son was a great baby except for the food
allergies that really added issues with behavior when
he'd accidnetly get them. He is now 4 and a half just
about and I noticed he wasn't retaining any information
when we'd work on letters or numbers and couldn't sit
still no matter what we tried. He wouldn't finish dinner,
wouldn't sit still his favorite movies even. He also had
outbursts where he would physically attack me or his
sister. I figured at first some of this was "normal" boy
behavior or age related but then the severity got worse
over the last 6 months or so. We took him to the ped and
he basically told me he had no clue and sent me to a
psychologist who gave the ADHD diagnoses. Birth!  My son was always a handful.  He never sat still-not even to nurse. He would nurse for 5 minutes to relieve his hunger, stop, and finish a half an hour later.  He was not actually diagnosed until he was 5. By then, looking back, we realized what we always called "Brandenisms" were really ADHD. We just assumed that this was his personality (which, of course, it is).  The first time in his life he sat at the table for an entire meal was 3 days after he started his meds.  There is no way to "catch" ADHD.  This is either who they are or not. The only other question is whether the behaviors interfere with their life and are worth treating.   Your daughter will be exactly the person that she is meant to be.  You, as her parent will love her and provide for her needs the best  that you can, just as you do for your son.  This may or may not include ADHD, but worrying about it won't change it. 

BIRTH!!!!!!!! From the very beginning, I knew something was amiss with my DD. I had done enough babysitting to see that there was something amiss. She was a hard baby. Always required attention and entertainment. If hurt would not allow anyone to comfort her. Would occasionally puke without cause during formula feedings or baby food. Dr. said she had nothing to cause her to puke and that she was doing it on command. She refused to nurse as an infant cause it required her to work. She was very much an instant gratification infant. When she was 2 months old at a pedi appt she started coughing to get the pedi to pay attention to her. So funny looking back at it. We had problems with daycare when she started going at age 1. I just knew. She didn't like change in her routine at all and would let us know it. I waited 2 yrs before I even thought of another child. She was 3 when my youngest was born.

Even thougb we were having issues with daycare, my husband in the tail end of finishing school and getting a license in counseling refused to admit that there was a problem. Finally, when her 1st grade teacher called him about her behavior he realized he had to unbury his head and see that she needed help. That is when we went to the doctor. If it wasn't for a teacher's aide in Kindergarten that called me everyday about her behavior, I am sure we would have had to have her evaluated sooner.

My youngest dd was never like her sister as an infant. Totally different and so much easier.  Honestly, if she was first I would have had 4 kids by now. lol

 

ggsgirl, we've also tried to make him sit for short periods even when he said he didn't have to go.  Unfortunately it never really worked and I felt the same way.  It was becoming such a power struggle/control issue so we stopped trying.

My son also seems to hold it in because he's just too busy to go. I've gotten to where I can even tell when he's trying to hold it.  Nothing we've tried has helped except for the probiotics and stool softener.  He takes 100mg of docusate sodium which is generic Dolculax. He takes a probiotic that has "14 billion good bacteria"called "PB 8" but according to his doc the brand doesn't really matter.  She just said that she looks for ones that have at least 5 different strains of probiotic in them.  She said the more strains there are the better it works. 

When we 1st started on this probiotic it worked so well that we were able to stop the Dolculax.  But I find that his body adjusts and gets used to the dose so we've had to go up to two doses a day and we've added the Dolculax back in.  Good luck with it.  I know how frustrating it can be!  Hang in there!

When you say potty accidents is it a "full" accident in his pants or just a little?  Sorry to be so personal but my son also had problems with this and still does from time to time.  His problem was with "#2" also but usually only a little (but still enough to make a mess).  We started him on probiotics twice a day and a stool softener once a day (both recommend by the doc) and as long as he takes these he doesn't have accidents any more.No, not full...more like he has to go and doesn't want to
stop what he was doing so tries to hold it. He also
doesn't like to "go" anywhere but at home. He takes
Primadophilus in the am. Maybe I should add one at
night, too. We tried Miralax but have been
inconsistent...what is your dosage? I'm worried that
he'll have to go more often which could create more
accidents. I now try to get him to just "sit" for a few
minutes afterschool and at night which helps, but I have
to admit, I'm not always so consistent with this. I
don't want to "control" the situation too much because I
want him to learn to go when he needs to go(he is almost
9). I struggle with how much control I should exert over
this. I did make a rule that whenever he has an
accident, he HAS to take a bath no matter what. He'll
sometimes say "but I'm fine, I'm all clean." But I make
him take a bath anyway -no negotiations- which means he
has to give up whatever fun thing he was doing when his
accident was "discovered" and he doesn't get to go back
to it. Any additional info on how to deal with this would
be very much welcome : ). I started to suspect it around 2, 3 at the latest and he was just diagnosed a month ago at 5.  However, I now have a 14 month old daughter and seeing her behavior now and looking back to my son's behavior at the same age I think he was showing signs of it then.

My daughter plays "right."  She tries to color with crayons.  She has some Little People sets and she'll sit in front of them and put the Little People inside.  She has a couple toys with little balls that you put in holes and they roll down ramps and she plays with those right.  If she gets her hands on a phone she holds it to her ear and says "hello."

My son didn't do those things at that age.  Playing generally consisted of banging two toys together or just sort of tossing toys around, that kind of thing.  I do remember watching my friends' kids, one a year older than Noah, the other about seven months younger.  They played more the way my daughter does now.  With the older one I always chalked it up to her being older.  But then Noah would reach the same age and still not play that way.  He rarely would even press buttons on toys that make sound.  Allison has two different puppies that you can press their paws for different sounds and music and she does that all on her own.

Around the time I was really starting to suspect Noah had ADHD we were also trying to potty train him and that was difficult.  He understood and he didn't have any aversion to it but he consistently went in his diaper/underwear or even on the floor or furniture when we were trying the "naked baby" method.  I felt like that could be part of the ADHD.  He just seemed to be so distracted by everything and anything else that he didn't recognize when he needed to go until he had already gone.

But yeah, seeing my daughter now, I think there were signs I just didn't really pick up on as young as one or maybe even younger.

As far as your step-son/daughter.  I don't know if she's with your current husband or from a previous relationship but if they share the same father she would have a somewhat higher risk of having ADHD since there's a genetic factor.  I'd think her risk would be smaller than if she had an ADHD sibling that she shared both parents with, though.
My son was diagnosed in 1st grade. My DS was also a
great baby...rarely fussy, slept great. Plus, his
brother was only 15 months older so I guess he "knew" he
had to behave...lol. I noticed some peculiarities when
he was a toddler...nothing specific. He was just a lot
more defiant than my first, could NOT keep his hands to
himself, had to touch EVERYTHING. In preschool, I
noticed more difficulty handling things that his peers
were handling just fine. He was smart, taught himself to
read at age 3 but was overly fidgety and impulsive. I
was consistently told not to worry about it. In
Kindergarten, we had more concerns...still having potty
accidents, hiding under his desk when he was
upset...EXTREMELY rigid. He is a great kid and smart
which is why it gets overlooked...the school is not going
to spend the effort evaluating if his grades were fine.
My concern was his social behavior. I requested the eval
and he got a "perfect" score for ADHD - impulsive. It's
been a bumpy road and continues to be. Our biggest
issues are the defiance and the inability to cope with
his own anger/frustration. He takes Concerta and I am
starting the Intuniv this week. He is a very sweet kid,
would do anything for those he loves, but when he gets
anxious or upset, it's like Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde and I am
the proverbial punching bag. He also continues to have
potty accidents (#2) at least 3-4 times a week.   What age did u notice your child had ADHD? What kind of symptoms did they have? & what were they like as a baby? Im asking because my 8 year old stepson has it & he's really hard to handle at times. I have a daughter & I'm actually a bit worried she may get it later. Thanks everyone! I didn't notice it - the school did.Our 8 yr DS has it & was finally diagnosed at age 5 because the school & we pushed for further review.  I began questioning the idea at around age 3.  He wsa a very good baby, never fussy and slept thru the night from 8 wks.  The best baby you could ask for.  As he became a toddler, he became very busy, always touching everything and constantly on the move.  My mom (who didn't understand ADHD & had the mentality that ADHD was just an excuse to dope up kids) always said "he's just a busy boy...boys are busy".  Finally by age 5, hubby and I were at our wits end with trying to teach him to keep his hands to himself, treat others as he wants to be treated, ect...  He finally started a pre-K program at age 5 and the teacher said that although he was a sweet boy & had the biggest heart ever, he had trouble staying in his seat, interupting, always moving and very impulsive w/his actions--even though she could tell it was never intentional to hurt others.  We finally sought help & got him started on meds and we see a completely different child when he's medicated.  Our 4 yr old is now very busy as well and beginning to be very defiant/independant but it is a different feeling altogether.  Some days I question whether or not he is presenting more ADHD but most of the time, I can see that he is just being a twirp & waiting for the reaction...pushing the limits to see how far he can go.  They were opposite babies...opposite pregnancies--everything.  Their personalities are completely opposite as well.