In utero Elliott was extremely active, flailing his limbs. Once his mother thought her rib was broken from kicking or flailing his limbs. Even her water broke three weeks early due to one of his kicks. In infancy she used to carry him in a sling as in a push chair he was always bucking. In the sling his arms and legs were constantly moving, flailing with excitement. He was so excited he would jump up and down in the sling. He just always had to be moving or jiggling. He had to be suspended upside down to be still. Even when he was lying down, his arms and legs would keep going; left on a baby mat he would jump his body across the mat and room even before he could crawl or walk, always flailing his arms. As an older infant he wouldn’t be still, taking books or pulling shoes off shelves, climbing onto window sills, climbing into the dishwasher, opening every cupboard.
Since being born he didn’t sleep in long bursts. He was awake every hour in the night until he was about six years old. He was a very restless sleeper. For a long time with her, then in his own room, he would fall asleep but kept waking every hour as if it were morning.
This post is part of a series following Elliott, a young patient with ADHD. Use the links below to go to the previous or next post, or click here to go back to the blog page.