My adult stepson, who lives with us, has his daughter every other week. She turned one in March. She's very bright, verbal and started walking at 9 months. However, she is into everything, and when stopped, she screeches and/or cries until she chokes and gags herself. With the exception of when she's sleeping, she does this at least once every hour. Thankfully, at night she usually sleeps four or five hours between these screeching tantrums. She used to alternate an hour of screeching with an hour of sleeping all night long, so things are slowly improving. She was playing outside today, and I could hear her screeching when I was in the house with the windows shut and the air conditioning on...she is that loud. Also we can't trust her around animals, because one time she'll pet them nicely and the next time she'll pull their hair or tails. Today she purposely kicked my cat, Buddy in the face with her big clunky baby shoes.
I never raised children from infancy, however, I did a lot of babysitting as a teenager and was around my two younger sisters from the time they were born. I don't remember ever having run across a baby like this! Her dad was diagnosed with ADHD at 12, and it was bad enough to warrant the use of medication. My question is: Is it possible that a child this young could display symptoms of ADHD?
If I was reading this post, my first reaction would be that it's the parents fault. I can't speak for the baby's mother, because I don't see them together. However my stepson and his current girlfriend seem to be decent parents. The girlfriend is calm and patient, although the baby has made it a habit of hitting her. My stepson has smacked her diapered bottom when she gets really out of hand, but he seems rather patient with her too.
If it's possible for toddlers to have ADHD, what do you do about it? Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing?