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

Someone else's posts about observations of their child as a newborn got me to wondering...

When DD7 was an infant, the comments I received most when we were out and about were about how alert she was. She was always wide-awake, kind of intense-looking, watching and taking in everything.

I couldn't take her places and expect her to sleep in her carseat like other infants. It was a challenge to get her to sleep as much as she needed at ALL.

I always assumed it was just a temperament thing. But now I am wondering if that "alertness" was an early sign of her giftedness.

What was your experience?

Our experience was the same. No time to search now, but I'm sure I remember there being a thread on this in the past, and the experience having indeed been very common.

Hah. DS freaked the nurses out by lifting his head up to look around when he was less than 2 days old. I was reprimanded for 'not supporting his head.' LoL. He was always lifting his head up and pushing against us with his feet as if he were letting us know "I'm ready! Let's go do something!"

DD freaked out the nurses before she was even finished being delivered into the world. You can still hear the collective "OH MY GOD!" on the video.

For further evidence, I took pictures on DD's first Halloween, seated next to her 5yo cousin in complimentary princess outfits. They were both watching Spongebob at the time, and while I was snapping pictures, something happened on Spongebob. DD9mos and her cousin were photographed with identical responses.

My PG brother was described as just quietly looking all around the delivery room, taking it all in, making eye contact, while still covered in goo.

DS was sleepier initially, well not sleepy but kept his eyes closed as if light hurt, he'd squint when he opened his eyes. His body and reactions were alert, if that makes any sense, but not his eyes initially. Once he opened his eyes, around his actual due date (he had been early) he he seemed to be able to focus on and be interested in books, images, people's eyes, etc. We read that infants can't focus well early on but this wasn't our experience.

Polly

All three of my boys were very alert from the day of birth.

Aiden was born by emergency c-sec after they tried every drug known to stabilise labour - we have a photo of him quietly staring at DH through the incubator, despite the drugs that the nurses assured us would have him sleepy and quiet for "at least a week"

Nathan was holding his head up before we left the hospital - staring around curiously from birth at every single sound (the sounds in the hospital even interrupted feeding)

Dylan held his head up and looked DH squarely in the eyes before he was 24 hours old. He also stared around after delivery, the midwife said it looked as though he was trying to see out of the bath he was born i,n before crying.

Yes. DD was referred to as "the owl."

yep yep. us too- Nick turned his head to look at the ballgame by 48 hours- much to his Daddy's delight. LOL eyeroll

"Was your gifted child an unusually alert infant?"

Yes. Everyone said, wow, how alert! So focused!

Where else could I say this without everyone thinking I was a total nutjob? DD was making eye contact in the operating room within minutes of my c-section. The next day she was making eye contact and watching people walk across the room. A pediatrician relative visited me in the hospital and confirmed this. "No, it's not physically possible but yes I see her doing it." The nurses told me that she didn't like the lights in her eyes going back and forth to the nursery so she took her little arms out of the swaddling and put them over her eyes. "Wow" "OMG" "Look, look", etc from all the hospital staff.

We were told "She is exceptionally social" at her 4 week check up when she was engaging the pediatrician and laughing out loud. At 8 week check up "Wow this was fun. Most babies this age just lie there!" It continued as an older infant too - watching and laughing out loud at Shrek 2 when she was 7 months old (she LOVED the dinner scene with Shrek and Fiona's father)

So, yes, she was indeed an unusually alert infant and no she never slept...