Were there signs that your 2 year old had adhD?

amother

Mon, Sep 18 2023, 7:43 am

My 2.8 year old is adorable and funny and friendly but I also think there’s something there that I can’t put my finger on. If your child ended up having adhd, what were the signs at this young age?

amother

DarkYellow

Mon, Sep 18 2023, 7:47 am

He was always on the move, at around 1.5 he was climbing adult bikes he saw in the street.

At 6 months he could be engrossed in a light up toy for about minutes. It isn't normal to be so hyper focused.

amother

Oatmeal

Mon, Sep 18 2023, 7:52 am

My ADHD kid didn't stop moving in utero for a second. By 2 weeks old he kicked his feet constantly and with so much power, that when I lay him down anywhere, he'd move backwards a few feet. He met all early mobility milestones early- rolled over both directions by 6 weeks, crawled by 5 months, etc. Very active all the time. A good baby, but with so much energy and took only very short naps.
At 2 years plus a bit old, signs of anxiety started showing up, too.
Wasn't diagnosed with adhd til elementary school.

amother

Navyblue

Mon, Sep 18 2023, 8:02 am

amother OP wrote:

There is no such thing as a diagnosis until a child is 6 years old (or somewhere around that age)

I don't recommend trying to detect ADHD or any condition like it until they are age 6.

Many 2 and a half year olds to various behaviors and sometimes have delays.

If by the time they are five they STILL have delays or various behaviors, THEN try to find out about ADHD

amother

DarkYellow

Mon, Sep 18 2023, 8:04 am

amother Navyblue wrote:

Early awareness is helpful. The reason they felt diagnose before 6 is because they don't want to unnecessarily medicate.

amother

Outerspace

Mon, Sep 18 2023, 8:18 am

amother Oatmeal wrote:

I had this experience too!
The sonographers at my first appt were laughing at how Much that “little jelly bean” was moving around!
He also had difficulty nursing because he would get distracted.

We didn’t do meds til about 9 when his aggression and impulsiveness became too much

amother

DarkMagenta

Mon, Sep 18 2023, 8:32 am

My husband and daughter are night owls. It's not a lack of fatigue. Cannot sleep unless exhausted. From almost day 1. My daughter needs melatonin to sleep. This is for hyper adhd.

amother

Apricot

Mon, Sep 18 2023, 8:39 am

My daughter has the inattentive ADD, not hyperactive. She was very different from my other children even as a toddler. Very creative, made messes all over the place (yes the other kids did to, but this one, different type and scale), played her own way, did everything her own way. She wasn't diagnosed till high school, though I said there was something different for years. Apparently this type of ADD and in girls specifically is very underdiagnosed.

amother

Bellflower

Mon, Sep 18 2023, 9:35 am

I have two kids with ADHD and several without.

Yes, with my older ADHDer I definitely knew there was something up from a young age. (He has a typical presentation...My younger one has an atypical presentation, so it didn't really look like ADHD.)

But some of my others were very jumpy in utero, or very wild as toddlers, or didn't listen well, and I would get really scared that they had ADHD. And now they're in elementary school or middle school and 100% do not have it.

So no, you can't diagnose at age 2. I feel like someone with typicaly ADHD will have many signs at age 2. But kids without ADHD will also sometimes have those signs, and you can't tell until they get older which are which.

amother

DarkYellow

Mon, Sep 18 2023, 9:49 am

amother Bellflower wrote:

Wild is not indicative of ADHD. It could be but it also could be a child being a child. However, staring at a toy for 30 minutes as an infant is not normal. Sometimes you really do know.

miami85

Mon, Sep 18 2023, 10:02 am

With my son yes. He was a "whirling dirvish" and when he was 18 months I had him evaluated not because I thought he was incredibly delayed but because he wouldn't sit still--but he also wasn't saying much. In the end the speech evaluation picked up on a serious speech disorder and through the therapy he ended up learning how to sit and attend so for a long time--he loved to sit and read for hours and I couldn't get his attention easily. I didn't really think he had ADHD. He was not the greatest at transitions, but many kids aren't. Then during Covid he really loved his tablet time, and when real school started again he was getting really angry and having a hard time switching between school/zoom-school/homework etc. Then I heard that "hyperfocusing", "poor transitions" and "anger" are signs of ADHD. Since he's been on ADHD medication he's been MUCH better at transitions, it's easier to get his attention and he gets ready for school better.

NotInNJMommy

Mon, Sep 18 2023, 1:26 pm

Both of my older kids (2 years apart) stopped napping at the same time...

Not same age, same time....

The older was 4 yrs. The younger was 2 yrs.....the younger was eventually dx'd ADHD-C (but primarily inattentive)

amother

Olive

Mon, Sep 18 2023, 4:26 pm

My DD had crazy tantrums from a young age and was very strong willed. She was very random and impulsive as a toddler/young child (cut her own hair, colored on walls, dropped toys over our third floor balcony, etc). She struggled with emotional regulation (and other executive function skills) all through preschool. Once seated/desk work was expected in elementary school it was obvious she had adhd. Didn’t medicate until 3rd grade when her activity level and impulsivity started affecting her grades. Doing great now BH!

amother

Burntblack

Mon, Sep 18 2023, 5:07 pm

amother Navyblue wrote:

I don’t agree sorry. No harm in realizing your toddlers behaviors might be because of adhd. My 2 year old couldn’t sit for a second. Constantly running, touching, throwing, couldn’t focus on any toy or game for more than a minute. Constantly making trouble. Like way more than a typical toddler. I was going crazy. Kept asking myself does this child have adhd?? Took him to neurologist at age 4 who evaluated him and said this is typical adhd. Made me feel much better knowing there was a reason for all the craziness

amother

Honey

Mon, Sep 18 2023, 5:11 pm

He was actually not the most active toddler I’ve had. I have a much more active one now but interestingly I’m not seeing the adhd signs I saw with him. He’s not my only adhd kid but I just remember noticing how his attention was all over the place and he couldn’t focus on something for very long. He’s still not an especially active kid but he has a hard time focusing for more than a few minutes.