Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Infant Alertness

First, hi, Mia! Good to e-see you, and congratulations on the birth. Yay, you! May you sleep through the night ASAP!

Second, I think personality has a lot to do with how content a baby is to sit and look around. DS9 was a *really* easy baby, and he has developed into a very laidback kid. He was alert from an early age and held his head up early, but he didn't need constant stimulation. He's an introvert and a deep thinker (not a speed demon), so he was quite happy even as a baby to study something complex for long periods of time. His focus and patience, as well as his ability to reason, were the things that persuaded me that he was HG+ before he was 1yo. Even as an infant, he slept well, ate well, and was generally just very, very easy to care for.

Yes, I know I was lucky. Actually, even at the time I realized that he was probably not an average kid, and DH and I debated a long time about whether to have a second child because I *knew* that I was spoiled and I worried that I wouldn't be able to manage a "real" baby.

DS6 was not quite that easy, and he's definitely more sensitive than DS9. But he was still a pretty laidback baby--with spikes of intensity--and he's still that way now. He's fine and happy...right up until the second that he isn't anymore.

Basically for both of them, I just had to make sure they had good, complex stuff to see and touch and study. If they had really good toys--toys that were fun for me to play with, but were safe for babies--then they were happy without me sometimes.

Both of them are DYS kids now, so laidback HG+ babies do exist, even if they're rare.

MIA!!!

Hi Kriston and Neato!

We breastfeed and co-sleep, so we all sleep through the night for the most part. Makes life waaay easier. God bless co-sleeping!

Also, the baby didn't look so alert today, sleeping through his first Gymboree class! Punk.

Yeah! So did we and it does make life so much easier. Instead of waking up and getting out of bed, just roll over from one side to the other! Nan

Amen to that! There is NO WAY I'd be able to keep up with DD with out doing that...

My mother was in the delivery room and the first thing she said to me after I gave birth is "That baby is weird. She is watching the nurses." And yes, I could see her eyes tracking the nurses, and even maybe a little bit of head turn. But she was my first, so it seemed normal to me. The second one did it too.

I always wondered what people meant when they said my son was 'so bright', meaning alert. To me, he just looked normal. As someone else said, it's not him who was 'normal', it's all the other babies who to me looked drugged. I'm still not sure that my son is gifted (he's 22 months and we have no way to test until he's much older), but if alertness is a sign of giftedness, then my son definitely had the alertness from birth. I can't wait to find out if I'm just overthinking or if he really will test in the higher end of the scale.

DS20mo lifted up his head when he was 2 weeks old. He would laugh whenever he saw my mom at less than 1 month old, and my family thought it was weird he could laugh socially at such a young age.

I am not sure these are considered "alertness" or not.

Well now I have two babies to compare what "infant alertness" means to me. �My dd, to me, is kind of floppy. �I was thinking it was because she's so long, over 21". �But she's not really floppy. �Everyone seems surprised that at two weeks she's lifting her head to look around. �(she always could). �I keep getting comments on how strong she is. �I have to support her head in the in-between times. �I never had to hold ds' head. �I put her on her belly at a few days old. �It was hard for her to lift her head from there. �She couldn't push up on her arms, only her bottom. �Ds pushed up on all fours and easily lifted his head. �I would've known that was unusual if I thought about it, but I was to busy enjoying my baby to think about it. �My MIL pointed out how strange it was, is the only reason I thought to take a picture of him.
She does cross her eyes sometimes. She looks surprised if her hand crosses her line of sight. �She pulls her hair and cries about it, pulling harder, not knowing it's her own hand pulling her own hair. �Ds just already knew his own body better than that from the day he was born.
The first few days ds was more fascinated and interacting with the environment and the people around him. �He would turn and look directly at whoever was talking to him, curious, since just minutes after he was born. �She's more cat-like. �She'll hold eye contact for a little while whenever it suits her. �She's more fascinated in exploring her own body. �In the first few days she did a lot of rapid blinking and isolating and wriggling various body parts. �I guess it's what everybody's describing as sensory seeking. �She's aware of us. �She communicates. �She was two days old when she looked me in the eye and started clenching/unclenching her fist and wriggling her tongue as either sign language or charades for "I'm hungry". �But she's more on her own little trip and ds wanted to be where the action is and engage the people around him as a newborn. �And ds would scootch across the bed, up to a foot and a half away, as a newborn to nurse. �The girl makes sucking sounds, if that doesn't work she cries. �("if at first you don't succeed cry and cry again"). �
To me my pretty princess is just a little more delicate. �That's all the new stuff I had to add.

Interesting comments Texican.

DW and I were wondering last night what DS- will be like.

DW is almost at 7 months and DS- is WAY more active than Mr W was. And if you tap on DW's belly or push it near her, she will kick back!!