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

My first one wasn't an emergency per se... DS6 never dropped either, and I was IN labor for hours and hours... he was fine, just didn't want to come out. I, on the other hand, was exhausted.

But the 2nd time, they took me 5-7 days before my actual due date, which I think was a little early to begin with anyway! DD slept for the entire first day after she was born. She wouldn't eat at all. Thankfully, she did on day #2.

Awe, congrats La Texican! Do you know if you will be having a girl or a boy?

I think everyone in the room tripped out when seeing that. She lifted her head out of the womb and made it easy for the doctor to pull her out. I'm sure he is still talking about it. LOL

But we had signs before she was born that looking back now just made sense, but during the time really freaked us out! I would crash hard at night and while I was asleep my DH would play with DD, but one night I woke up to this play time. He was thumping music on my belly. 2 beats, 3 beats, back to 2 beats, etc. and then he would pause and she would repeat it back to him. At first I just laid there thinking I must be dreaming, but he did it again and she matched his beats. This was when I sat up and freaked out. "Did you feel that?!? OMG she is copying you!" DH: "Yeah, she has been doing that for weeks." ME: "Why didn't you tell me?" DH: "Because it was Daddy and Katelyn time." I guess if I never woke up he would never have shared that information with me.

Also he was tapping on my belly one night trying to get her to play and she had clearly been asleep. She became outraged by such an act and definitely let him know. My whole body shook as she started kicking and punching. I don't think that is normal.

Why would that be crude? Actually, most babies can find their mama's nipples and latch on all on their own, within an hour of birth.

Thanks K-mom. I don't know yet. The midwife still hasn't sent me for my last sonogram. I kind of hope he doesn't because it's another $250 each time. That's such a cute Da-Da & baby story. Omg. But you must be a real good sleeper for him to do it and you not notice.

Ooh, you said the "N" word in mixed company. �You're much braver than I. �Poppa Rex, lucounu, and Sylwester are at least three men I've noticed who gather here. �No, other people Let me know his strength and co-ordination and mobility were unusual. �Guess I would have known if I thought about it- I have seen other babies. �I already knew that you could lay any newborn on a mamma's belly and they would maneuver and scootch until they reached the nipple. �I had already read all about it. �What they didn't tell me was a co-sleeping newborn could find his way across the bed and latch on the target in the dark consistently without fumbling or groping around for it. �An old lady told me they do it by smell.
That really doesn't have to do with infant alertness I guess. �You know how most babies are kind of lazy-eyed and are content in their swing or playpen in their own little world until they need something or you coochie-coo them. �And how when they try to study something like their own fingers they stay cross-eyed longer,�and when they respond it's kind of in exaggerated slightly off-balance gestures. �It's cute. It's babyish.
Well alert infants always want to be where the action is. �They watch adults conversations and follow the conversation from one speaker to the next. �They control their movements voluntarily almost always. �That's why old women say a baby who was born alert "never was a baby."
Does it relate at all to giftedness, or is it an evolutionary survival trait gene left over from some pre-historic nonmad era?

LOL! After I breastfed in front of my dad, DH's dad, DH's brother, my (male) boss, and every male stranger who happened to look my way, using the word "nipple" on an internet bulletin board definitely doesn't phase me. It isn't even gender-specific! Or maybe I just have no shame.

Nipple, nipple, nipple. There, I said it, too! No shame in in at all.

I, too, had a baby that helped with her own C-section. She was oblique and breech and 'jumped' (that was the OB's word) out. Her legs sprung out and she sat right up into her hands. I'll have to take her word for it I guess. She was born at 32 wks and was a super alert baby right from the beginning. Super cranky, as well!

I work with newborns and can say with assurance that there are some that just seem to be more 'with it' than others.

I've got an 8yo DYS, and an almost-4-week-old ds ... it's odd to be doing the baby thing again!

With my 8yo, people commented all the time -- what an alert baby! Like others, I thought they were just being nice! Looking back, he was very picky from the start -- preferring me and ex-h from day 1, *very* high needs (needed hours of walking to settle, easily overstimulated).

With my baby, it's more an awareness in his eyes. He's not as picky as his big brother (yet!), but he's been reaching for toys for two weeks already (!) and just seems very aware of where he is and what he's doing. His first picture is ridiculous -- he looks like he's several months old, looking right at the camera. It's crazy.

Seriously? I've only got the one, and have never been around babies much, but mine was not happy for a moment unless she was physically attached to someone. She was the easiest baby in the world until you put her down, and then she was the shriekiest banshee baby in the world.

I've heard people talk about babies that would sit / lie contentedly by themselves, but I've always thought of them as extreme outliers, not the norm.

I'm really not a deep sleeper but when I was pregnant I would bypass the normal sleep pattern and fall into a deep sleep.

Another funny story to share: after having DD I guess the sleepless nights were getting to me. (I was breastfeeding.) And one night I fell into one of those deep sleeps. DD woke DH up and was in a full meltdown because she was hungry but he couldn't wake me up. He shook me and yelled at me but I never woke up. I believe he even threaten to divorce me if I didn't get up and help him. Nice, huh? LOL ... he should have kept that one to himself. The funny part is who woke me up. Not the panicked husband or the screaming baby, but my dog. He jumped up and put his front paws on my chest and started pouncing on me! The dog weighs 95 lbs! So I stirred and opened my eyes to a complete zoo.

But I swear I am not a deep sleeper in normal circumstances.