You obviously don't have a kid with ADHD!

Go ahead and try "Conditioning" an ADHD child. Spend a week with my daughter without ADHD medicine and you'll get it.

And before you put her on the drug did she ever act the way without medication she does when she's going through withdrawal symptoms from the ADHD drug? Guess it must be easier to dope them up then deal with a living being with mind of his/her own. Bet your mom wishes ADHD drugs were around when you were a kid Kevin.

Oh, Christ on a cracker....give me a break.

Nah. The little one is not hungry or tired or his gums aren't hurting. It's not that his tender little skin is inflamed. It's not because he's wet or wants attention. He's sick in the head!

I agree. Some kids are naturally more hyper than others, but almost all kids respond to conditioning. ADHD is usually diagnosed by a family physician observing the kid for 20 minutes on a sugar high, with testimony from an exasperated parent about how he behaves like this all the time. He never learns to behave, because he gets drugged down to a manageable energy level.

Every ADHD kid I've known just so happens to have a parent who lacks structure/discipline. I'm sure it is just a coincidence, because diagnosing a parent with ITPSD Syndrome* is rude, but diagnosing a child with ADHD is socially acceptable. It also just so happens that ADHD kids "recover" from their condition while in my home, since the "disease" is triggered by environmental factors like parents who can't set and enforce boundaries.

I'm not saying these parents are lazy. Some people just do not find parenting to be intuitive. Instead of pushing ritalin on kids, society should be offering classes and one-on-one home instruction to parents who are struggling with their children. It's better for children to develop coping skills than to become lifelong pharmaceutical customers.

*Inability to Provide Structure and Discipline

The fact that ritalin improves attention span does not equal needing it. Every one has an attention span... some longer, some shorter. I had a friend in college with a decent attention span, who bummed off some ADD medication from another student and suddenly realized he was able to pay attention for much longer. So he assumed he had ADD and tried to get a prescription. Come on! So it lengthens attention span... in everyone. So should we all just take it? I'm curious what the addiction level is. If you take it for years, does your attention span continue to be as long as when you first started taking it, or does tolerance develop? When you quit taking it, do you resume your pre-medicated attention span, or do you suddenly have a short one? People are too dependent on psychiatric drugs to handle themselves.

I wouldn't have any problems with your kid Kevin. Your child most likely acts out because you don't know how to parent.

They are reporting on a new study from that oh so trusted source, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (which should be abolished) that says, "At just 1 month old, infants show signs of temperament troubles that can turn into mood and behavior problems later in life...that infants that are fussy when they're three to four weeks old are more likely to develop anxiety, ADHD and behavior problems" and get this..."infants might be screened very early on to identify those at risk..." Make no mistake, this is an attempt to legitimize more baby drugging than they are already doing. Here's the bottom line... the very last people that should be let anywhere an infant, are psychiatrists. End of story.

from a post on a related website.

#YOUCANFOOLSOMEOFTHEPEOPLE>>>

JLM: I totally agree. You posted what I wanted to say. When I go to a boring seminar, I always joking that the talker makes me suspect I have ADHD.

Fussy newborns may have more troubles later on

Then again, they just MAY BE a fresh group of CONSUMERS.

I find it somewhat troubling that so many think that any kid with ADHD has it because of bad parenting. I will admit that a lot of troublesome brats are the direct result of bad parenting, but there is a big difference between a properly diagnosed medical condition, and a simply unruly twerp.

What surprises me is how many parents just "wing it" when it comes to raising their children....children do not come with instruction manuals so unless you know about early childhood development you are clueless with kids....I am always surprised at how many moms and dads take birthing classes and then once the kid is born their educations stop and mom and dad have no idea how crucial those 1st 7 years of a child's life really are...another thing is I always hear parents say "I raised all my kids the same way and I have no idea why Johnny is having problems"....well duh everyone is different and what works with one child will NOT work with another child...most parents are just lazy and do not want to be bothered with the REAL responsibility of being a mom and dad NOT just a sperm or egg donor! Prospective parents need to educate themselves LONG BEFORE the baby comes and be proactive NOT reactive with raising a child! Bad parents will NEVER acknowledge their role when they’ve raised bad kids..it’s always something else NEVER them!!!

When my son was a couple months old is when his symptoms started showing up...and I wasn't looking for an answer, neither was I new at the game of parenting...I just knew something was wrong. We all love him but even my father who never said much about anyone for any reason said "there is something wrong with that child"! When he was diagnosed with AHD we did a thorough background to make sure we weren't out of our minds and I'll be damned if we couldn't go back to 2 months of age. I agree with virginiatrees....I believe it too. I used to explain raising my son as being held hostage by him...everything in my life was directed by what his reaction was going to be...not fun for us but even less fun for him because he didn't know how to have fun..hje was too worried about what might come next. Until you have raised a TRUE ADHD child, don't criticize and I won't criticize all the new diagnosis of Autism!!

OMG- I can sooo relate to the idea of being held hostage by my son's moods. And it continues today... only those of us who have experienced this particular "phenomenon" can understand what it was like and continues to be like. Thank you for sharing your experience.

I had this experience with both children until the age of about 1 year. Then they each stopped being constantly fussy, developed real personalities, and started enjoying life. Others agreed I had the fussiest babies they had ever seen. But they turned out to be wonderful children, well-adjusted so far.

I do have to question the link in this study. It's very subjective. They made no attempt to isolate the variables of different parenting styles, socioeconomic backgrounds, health problems, etc. Perhaps if someone had raised children already, who were not fussy, and then had a fussy baby that continued to be fussy into childhood, we could assume that they weren't just inept parents. (Inept is not a good word choice.) Then again, we all know families with wonderful children, whose "baby of the family" is a monster. So you'd also have to isolate the birth order variable. Even "good" parents can suddenly trip up on discipline when they have a lot of children to raise.

My heart goes out to all the parents with these children. Those that have been through raising this type of child knows there is a difference between normal fussiness and this severe "colicky type behavior". The crying doesn't end, EVER!

My son was diagnosed with "severe colic" for one full year. I knew something wasn't right. He started reading at two years old and playing the violin at 30 months but he would throw an absolute fit if he had to wear socks, or if he had a scratchy tag in his shirt or was subjected ( god forbid) to anyone singing.

I quit work, I vetoed all television and video games, I fed him organic food with no processed sugars limited dairy and gluten -- and I home-schooled through kindergarten. I didn't yell for punishment but I used time-outs, extreme consistency and we always talked about "cause and effect"

We currently have an extremely well behaved eight year old boy who is in a regular school making straight A's ---he even has lots of friends. Anyone looking at him now would say he is completely normal and happy. We still have a few issues at home, I have to keep the environment low key and predictable which is hard with the three sisters but I try. I don't know what actually got us to this point---maybe it wasn't anything i did, maybe it was just luck.

We sacrificed my income, family vacations and my career but end the end it is worth it. I love watching him play with other boys and "fitting in" . I tuck him in at night and he says " Mommy I love you so very much!" and then he tells me about the latest scientific book he just read"......... God, I love him more than life, would have done it all over a million times!!!!!

that should be "in the end" sorry about all the typos...I guess I was just reliving that time and it made it difficult to type.

My son was colic for the first 3 months of his life. Then as he got a little older, he went through a "failure to thrive" issue...by he time he was 1, he still fit into his 3 month old clothes (he was fed 6 times a day). After that, ADHD became a huge problem in school (almost got expelled in 1st grade).

Now, just because the study fits my situation doesn't mean it has merit. Your basic horoscope will fit someone's life to a T at some point....doesn't make it true.

To those on the soap box about bad parenting...it always looks way easier on paper. What works for one child won't work for another. Some kids respond very well to time-out therapy, and with some (mine) it's just a means to sit and plan the next strategy...lol.

Yes there are bad parents, but just because a kid is extremely difficult to handle doesn't mean he/she has bad parents. Some children are simply more difficult to handle than others. It's always easier to point the accusing finger at someone else's family when you yourself aren't involved in it.

My son was a nightmare to handle, my daughter was simple to manage...both raised in the same house, treated the same, same punishments, etc.

Diagnosing the "problems" has become easier.

The variable may very well be parenting. "Back in the day" children were typically raised by stay-at-home mothers (or grandparents, or other family members) in groups of 3-4 siblings. Now they more commonly spend the first 5 years in a daycare center with more children. It's much more akin to institutionalization than the home environment, so it's not surprising to see psychiatric problems that resemble mild versions of what orphans and other institutionalized children typically experienced "back in the day."

I'm not knocking daycare, which has its own benefits, but I'm just saying that some children may be predisposed to institutionalized behavior, and now more of them are experiencing semi-institutionalized environments in their early lives.

Oh great, so now that I had a fussy baby, she is going to be a problem child. And since I work and send her to a sitter, I'm making it worse. Of course, if I quit my job and opted for welfare so I could stay home with my child, that would draw criticism too. Guess what? Parents can never win! There is always some doomsday study or people telling you everything you are doing wrong. I'm sure Mother Theresa herself couldn't escape criticism nowadays (if she were still alive, of course.)

There are pro's and con's to all methods of parenting. It's worthwhile to look at those pro's and con's, and study their long-term effects, so future parents can make informed decisions. It's not about labeling something as "right" or "wrong," or judging people. It may be wrong to put your child in daycare. It may be wrong to stay home and collect welfare. It may be wrong to stay at home and let your husband support you. I can think of problem with all those options! So yeah, maybe every decision is wrong, in some way or another. Just accept it and choose what you feel is the "least wrong," and within your means as a parent. No need to get all emotional. And certainly no need to get offended just because someone is considering the disadvantages of the option you happened to have chosen.

No, you can't escape criticism, because there is no perfect life. Not even Mother Theresa. So yes, no one gets out of criticism. They key is to make the best of it, instead of letting it tear you down.

Well, I don't deny that daycare has its disadvantages, but the economy didn't really leave us with options to choose from. And I honestly don't think sending your child to a good, loving, qualified sitter harms them mentally at all. If anything, it teaches them to socialize with other children. And I'm sorry if anyone thinks I am overly emotional, but I think most parents (emphasis on most) just do the best they can. These kind of stories, coupled with all the bad advice you get from well-meaning friends, relatives, co-workers, total strangers, etc., can get very discouraging.

Mother Theresa was a nun and didn't have any babies of her own, so we will never be able to compare. But I am sure there are probably some experts somewhere who have never personally dirtied their hands with care of the outcasts, poor, and dying, who will probably do a study sometime saying she did that all wrong.

I had three fussy little ones. When I could I stayed home. Most of the time I worked at least parttime. Each had their own individual health problems as kids. All were very very active, but since they could focus quite well on things they were interested in, I just kept them busy (scouts, church groups, music lessons, trips to museums, etc.) and lots of encouraged lots of imaginative play, because although ADHD is real, it is terribly overdiagnosed. A school psychologist once told me my son was immature because he said he had to have a story and prayers before he could go to bed (he was 6 or 7). He tended to either excite teachers as a child seeking to learn about all sorts of things from dinosaurs to astronomy to how the world was made, or drive them nuts. Awful me, I not only did not change a thing, I did the same with the next 2 siblings.

It is time for us to reapply common sense to child rearing. If I needed advice, I asked my Mom, not the experts. My three fussy little ones, who were all past six months when they slept through the night (one past a year), were rocked, loved, and comforted if they were still fussy if fed and dry. They have turned into three fine young adults, two in college, one in grad school.

I think he was trying to say, be aware of your genetic predispositions before you have children. Get any negative behaviors in control before you have children. Not that "damaged" people shouldn't have children at all, or that people with imperfect family histories shouldn't reproduce. Just that they should be prepared for these things. At least, that's what I took from his post...

I know I always consider what my needs and struggles were as a child when making decisions for my own children. I'm not saying they're copies of myself, but statistically, I know they're more likely to struggle in the same ways, so I try to address that. For example, I had hearing problems, so I'm vigilant about looking for signs of hearing problems in my children, and making sure they are responding to verbal communication.

Yeah....right....

I have 2 kids. Both raised identically. Both got the same attention, love and affection.

My daughter was born exactly like the author states and she's been a terror for the 7 years of her life. She always needed tons of extra attention from the day she was born and still does. She'd get in trouble constantly at home and at school. We put her on a low dose of Concerta and she's great now during the day. She's getting a lot better now at night after the medicine wears off. This comes with age and with her finally being aware of what's getting her in trouble and how to manage it better.

My son was born calm, cool and collected. He rarely cried. He'd just lay in his bed and fall asleep. He never gets in trouble in school. Rarely had to sit in timeout, etc.

Both raised the same but are totally different people.

I, and my entire family, loved my child to the point of distraction and he is now 18 years old and one of the neediest teens I have ever met...throws that thought out of whack!!

No siblings are "raised identically." It's a myth. That's why birth order comes with such predictable personality traits. However, some children do need more attention than others. The solution would be the give them more attention.

My (firstborn) daughter requires almost constant interaction. She's very social. She never really enjoyed her toys until about age 4. Before that, she'd only ackowledge them if I was actively playing with them, and even then, it was my attention that interested her, not the toys. I tried raising my son the same way, but he would just get annoyed if I played toys with him too long. He wanted a little attention, then he wanted to go off and do his own thing. He will literally play by himself, with his toys, for a full hour before approaching me with any needs, and he is only one year old. His lower need for attention does make him easier to raise than my daughter, but there is nothing wrong with either of them.

Children develop as a mixture of inborn personity traits and environment. None of us are a product of just one or the other. Parenting from day one shapes personity, whether you rock little colicky junior or let him cry it out. How many and the ages of siblings, extended family who are involved with the child, babysitters, all these and their personalities are a part of the environment, too. Then, as we grow up, part of our personality actually comes from the choices we make for ourselves.

I know! Who comes out of the womb knowing how to control their emotions? If you've ever been to a toddler playgroup, you'll see meltdowns galore. Fast-forward to kindergarten, and kids frequently get through a whole day without crying or fighting.

Next they'll be medicating newborns for their fussiness. And a lot of worn-out parents will buy into it, and sedate their babies. (Who isn't sleep-deprived and overwhelmed by their newborn?) What a shame... children never given the opportunity to develop normally. Frustration, struggles and disappointments are a fact of life. You can't "medicate" away the role of experiences in human life.

Good point. I wonder how many real problems are overlooked in children because they are "medicated" down until they are not fussy. Even the inability to control emotions is a problem, which should be solved by behavioral therapy. Drugs should only be used as a last resort for people whose behavior problems pose a danger.

Infant fussiness is not a precursor to suicidal thoughts, anger control or bi polar disorder. Yes, if his mother had been aware, perhaps his problems wouldn't have been as bad, however, I doubt his infant behavior was an indicator of anything. Not every fussy baby ends up as he did.

Fussy cannot be defined as non stop crying for three years.

And there is no way he literally cried non-stop for three years. He just cried a lot for three years - in his mother's opinion. Very subjective.

It's easy to market drugs to parents with wild children. They're overwhelmed and desperate for a "disease" to blame it on. That's why ADD/ADHD drugs are so lucrative.

Just imagine how easy it would be to market drugs to parents of infants, which are MUCH more stressful than toddlers. Most new mothers are borderline psychotic from sleep deprivation alone. I'm sure they would jump at the chance to "cure" their babies and medicate them to be calmer. HOW SAD!! And it starts with bogus, subjective studies like these.

Good thing you didn't trade her for tires!

I'm certain it's how you raised them. Love and care go a long way.