Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Was your gifted child an unusually alert infant?

Both of mine were born with instant personality. The oldest (8) is the only diagnosed one so far, but my 21 month old is showing an amazing amount of promise right now. They are both tall, and people would often think they're older than they are because of their alertness. Both very late talkers though weirdly!

our DD hardly slept and still doesn't sleep much. My mother (lots of grandchildren) said "i've never seen a baby like this" when DD was 10 days old. She still talks about it. DD would cry until we took her up to paintings around our house (middle of the night of course - ugh), she would look and look with these big wide eyes. MD also commented at her 3 day apt bc wide-eyed, looking around, and could roll to her side.

Mr W was a preemie via C-section, but had an Apgar of 9. He went home 3 days after birth. That first week he was home he smiled at me when I woke him up.

By the 3rd month he was no longer an infant. We had to remind the Dr at his 3 mos checkup that he had been a preemie and was only 3 mos old.

I have pics of him at 4 months sitting up and watching Handy Manny and laughing at the appropriate points. He would listen for an hour at Nordstrom's to the piano player. I could name an object and he would point to it. One time I lost my keys while out walking and took him to go look for them and he found them before I did.

And he slept very little. His last nap was around 12 mos.

I've had the same experience with my little girl! Even when I was pregnant, the doctors would say 'wow the baby is really active!' then after birth it was 'wow she's very alert!' Every baby at our local breastfeeding group looked sleepy to me compared to mine, I realized quickly she was different.

For some reason my midwife was wearing gold bracelet that dangled slightly. As she took the baby to the table to suck her out, the baby grabbed her bracelet and would let it go. My mom snapped a picture. I never told anyone but my husband, but I was alone most of the day when I was pregnant and when daddy came home every day, she would kick very hard after being quiet all day. This happened every day. Every day he would poke her back and call her booper. I know for a fact that she knew him before she was born. We used to drive a lot and play music. Over and over she would "dance" when we changed to country music. I swear! Before she was born. Dh and I don't like country music. Today, at age 9, dd is a dancer and loves country music! Lol.

Yes, my oldest and youngest were both born prematurely. The nurses in the NICU always commented on how alert they were and how much eye contact they gave. If I walked into the NICU and talked to them while they were having an IV change, they both stopped crying to look for me.

We have video of my oldest at 8 weeks old with a little toy. It had a white bear on a black background on one side and a black bear on a white and red background on the other. Every time you slid the cover to the white bear, he'd smile and when you switched it to the black bear, he'd frown. If we adjusted for his prematurity he would have been not quite 2 weeks old at the time.

Sounds familiar. Every night from about the beginning of the third trimester I would read aloud to DW and DD, and DW quickly noted that this was DD's most active part of the day.

Each time before I would start reading, I'd call her name twice in a particular cadence and tone. I was doing this on purpose, to see if she'd recognize me on her birthday. Her "OH MY GOD" moment already passed (without boring you too much with details, it had something to do with her deciding to accelerate her own delivery), she was swaddled and placed, screaming, in my arms.

I only said her name once before she stopped screaming and locked eyes with me. I was rocking her side to side, and her eyes were tracking my relative motion. And I stared at her, thinking, "She's not supposed to be able to do this...."

Later that day she was lying on my chest, picked up her head, looked over at DW for a handful of seconds, and laid back down... and again I was thinking, "She's not supposed to be able to do this..."

I never felt they were all that different from the norm, but others remarked on it. DS also had his eyes open while he was crowning, which the midwives said was very unusual, though I can't back that up.

Yes. I clearly remember my mother saying, "This is a really weird baby. She is watching the nurses." Apparently DD was tracking the nurses with her eyes as she was being weighed. At the time, I was rather annoyed since I had gone to all the trouble to gestate and birth her and didn't think she was weird at all. But now it is funny.

When my DS entered the world at 11 lbs 2 oz 22 1/2 inches he was a big boy. The nurses had a special bed that rocked the babies who needed to be soothed. My little guy pretty much owned the bed while I recovered from my c-section. I remember in the delivery room he reached in the plastic bassinet and grabbed both sides. One of my most treasured memories is my 1 day old son being held by my 90 year old grandfather and watching what seemed to almost be a conversation. My grandpa talking and my little guys, eyes wide open cooing back in response to him.

Until I read this thread I didn't really think about how unusual it was for him to be so alert.