too early to diagnose? Possible ADHD early symptoms

[Lovey23]

my son who has just recently turned 3 is a typical boy, very energetic , hyperactive and full of beans. He goes to day care 3 times a week since the start of this year. To know abit about his back story on why I’m looking for extra support, last year we went thru some aggression issues of hurting others, to the point he had to be shadowed at daycare and I was pulled in a numerous amount of times because of his concerning behaviour. He is often restless at bed time, routine is consistent but getting to sleep is an effort. He has put bursts out of no where of frustration, we also had a lot of issues with ears so his on the wait list to see an ENT. We went to a Peadtrician when we were trying to rule out all possibilities of his behaviour at school (the kitting,scratching, temper, communication) paediatrician said to come back when his older like 4/5 for a diagnosis. It’s a constant struggle every day is different. Even tho he has gotten slightly better with communication and the hurting of others at day care he is still quite aggressive at times, out of no where in particular and goes from 1-100 if he gets upset. I try all the things for bedtime meditation, oils, sleep balms, books. Starting to feel I should be looking at re visiting the paediatrician for some answers? Anyone else been through something similar or have any advice. Sorry for the long post.

Picture: finally asleep at 10:30pm

Bedtime routine started at 7!

[ADHD_DAD]

Definitely never too early to start asking questions and assembling the "team." I will defer to your son's doctors on what is too early for diagnosis and treatment. We definitely knew by kindergarten and fumbled with other diagnoses until 2nd grade when accurate diagnosis led to effective treatment. The problem with delay is if your son's friends parents are like we are, we had no patience for parents who were deniers and stopped letting my son be around aggressive, out of control kids. It may affect your ability to set up play dates if not addressed. Good luck and be well.

[redmama2]

My son is 5 and was just diagnosed with ADHD. We've been going through what you've described since he was 2/3 and his pediatrician and all the psychologists around wouldn't even consider anything until he was 6 and had been in school a year. You could go back to the pediatrician but they'd probably tell you he'd have to be older for diagnoses and treatment 🙄. I was only able to get him diagnosed at 5 by getting my own psychologist to see him (I've been with him for 10 years so we have a relationship and he takes me seriously). In the meantime, I suggest looking for behavioral modification resources that you can implement on your own at home. Sticker charts were very helpful for us with aggression! Also, online tools like ClassDojo, it's like an online sticker chart but they can lose points for bad behavior and his teachers can add/subtract too, which helps it be a universal tool. For bedtime I highly recommend 1mg melatonin. I was nervous about starting it as I've read it can lead to dependance, but it helps soooo much to calm his brain and get him to sleep and he likes it too as it helps him sleep so much better.

[Mom-of-a-superhero in reply to redmama2]

We use 1 mg of Melatonin as well and my daughter is now asleep within 30 min. Without melatonin it would take her 1.5-2 hours to fall asleep.

[Rosie232]

I think my son's symptoms started as an infant. He had the hardest time falling asleep. He would get over tired and we would try for hours to get him to sleep. Eventually he would fall asleep standing up.

When he was two, he would have tired meltdowns during the day when nothing we could do would calm him down. He would turn into a different person- screaming and hitting.

When this continued when he was 4, I knew something was not right.

[redmama2 in reply to Rosie232]

I experienced the exact same with my lo but he was my first so I thought that was normal baby behavior. Recent research indicates that ADHD is identifiable from a very early age (months old) with 85% accuracy; the reason they don't like to diagnose them that early is because treatment from a medical standpoint starts with a relatively aggressive mediation regimen.

[LAJ12345]

you could try eliminating any junk food and anything with fake colours and numbers in the ingredients and make sure he is getting a wide range of fruit , vege , meat, nuts, eg high nutrient foods if you haven’t already. I think for a child that age it is worth going down this route first and they are young enough to change diet ( just don’t allow snacks between meals so they are very hungry at dinner time and they usually will try things then. )

[LF2023]

I feel like it's easier to detect at an early age when they are already in school so young- They might not be able to do an official diagnosis/ prescribe any medication but maybe you could speak with your pediatrician about getting a referral for occupational therapy- There may be executive functioning skills that he is struggling with and getting frustrated. My daughter has major out bursts every single day-it's usually over her trying to do something on her own or trying to speak and getting distracted in her own thoughts and forgetting what she's talking about. I've been told all of these things can help be addressed in Occupational therapy but we are still waitlisted. She is 4 years old so pretty close in age to your son.

We also found out she was very low iron, which can play a major role in aggression and also very common in kids with ADHD.

Melatonin 2 hours before bedtime and Kid's Calm brand Magnesium (amazon) might be helpful as well. I mix the Kid's Calm with Juice and put them in popsicle molds and let her have one before school- it definitely helps

You know your child best and while he still might be to young for an actual diagnosis there is still a lot of tools and resources you can utilize in the meantime.

Hang in there you are doing amazing!

[Lovey23 in reply to LF2023]

Thank you, yes we do see an OT I feel it definitely has helped… very interesting the melatonin before school? I’m a bit hesitant in trying but you would say that brand is okay? I will follow up with our gp next visit. Thanks again for your input 💕

[LF2023 in reply to Lovey23]

Hi! Not melatonin..magnesium it’s a powder that you mix into a drink. They have a berry version for kids. Natural Vitality Calm Specifics, Kids Magnesium Dietary Supplement Powder, Mixed Berry Flavor, 16 Ounce (Packaging may Vary) a.co/d/9gdlO4T I put a very small amount in with sugar free juice and freeze into popsicle molds. We use melatonin at night for sleep 😊

[Trying1978]

I feel like we had strong suspicions with our son (now 7) by 3 and somewhat for our older daughter (now almost 9) around 2 and 4. We also have very strong guesses about our youngest (3) heading in the direction now, too.

The doctors definitely won't do anything with medicine and use teacher feedback as a huge part of the diagnostic criteria, from what I can see. But they will start behavioral intervention stuff much earlier.

Good on you for noticing and doing something about it. We tried to for our older two, and doctors kept telling us everything was fine...until it wasn't!

[Lovey23 in reply to Trying1978]

I feel I’ve gone down every avenue trying to reach out, and try our best to address what we think is signs of adhd, maybe a visit to the paediatrician for early intervention could be the next on the cards for us. We have an OT specialist at the moment who visits the childcare and we do lots of outdoor activities. His behaviour seems to go thru stages, one week his great the next week not so much thanks for your support

[kdali]

It's not too early for play therapy.

[Knitting20projects]

I’d also be sure he isn’t snoring or having breathing problems during sleep (sleep apnea & sleep deprivation can actually make kids hyper instead of sleepy during the day). Also, does anyone have concerns about his speech/communication skills? Not saying that’s causing his behaviors. But unidentified speech delay can worsen frustration & tantrums, etc. Otherwise I agree with everyone above. Been there!!!!! Hugs.