Do the brains of kids with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) mature more slowly than those of their non-ADHD counterparts?

New research suggests this is true.

Developing more slowly in ADHD youngsters — the lag can be as much as three years — are brain regions that suppress inappropriate actions and thoughts, focus attention, remember things from moment to moment, work for reward and control movement.

The sharp differences were discovered only after a new image analysis technique allowed the researchers to pinpoint the thickening and thinning of thousands of cortex sites in hundreds of children and teens, with and without the disorder.

Brain imaging is not advanced enough, however, to detect the delays characteristic of ADHD on a case-by-case basis, so it is not yet possible to use imaging to make a diagnosis.

Kids with ADHD have normal brain function; it’s just on a delayed timeframe, says Dr. Philip Shaw of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

That’s good news - and it is also perhaps reassuring that ADHD does seem to be a biological phenomenon, rather than an environmentally-created one. Although up to five percent of schoolchildren may have ADHD, most kids diagnosed with it eventually outgrow the disorder.

Posted by Sunshining.

My daughter was an easy baby, so when my son came along earlier this year, I was completely unprepared for the endless hours of screaming and crying that made up the majority of his waking hours those first few months. I thought something was horribly wrong with him - or me.

I mentioned his extreme fussiness to my pediatrician at his one-month and two-month appointments. I even told her that I wondered if it could be some form of reflux, since other moms on the board have dealt with that (and their babies had had similar symptoms). The pediatrician’s reply? “He’s just a colicky baby. There’s nothing we can do for him, so just learn to live with it.” Thanks for nothing!

At five months, I’m happy to report that he spends much, much less time screaming his head off. He’s actually a fun little guy to be around most of the time. Was it just colic, or should I have looked elsewhere when my pediatrician repeatedly gave me the brush-off about it?

Drs. Bryan Vartabedian and Barry Lester say that colic is often actually something else. Up to 20% of all babies are defined as colicky infants. Vartabedian thinks that up to sixty percent of those kids are dealing with reflux or a milk protein allergy.

Vartabedian, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Texas Children’s Hospital and author of the book Colic Solved: The Essential Guide to Infant Reflux and the Care of Your Crying, Difficult-to-Soothe Baby, believes that “colic is really a wastebasket term. Pediatricians use it when they have no idea what the heck is going on.”

He would like to see more parents push for a solution when the answer they’re being handed doesn’t seem right. A second opinion is never a bad idea, and I probably should have gotten one a few months ago in the midst of all the screaming. At least then, if “colic” is all they could tell me, I would know that it had been independently verified by another pediatrician.

A bigger problem is that entire families go untreated, said Lester, a professor of psychiatry at Brown Medical School and director of the nation’s only clinic designated for treating colicky babies and their families.

Two babies who cry for hours on end in two different homes may spur completely different reactions in their families. For one, the crying may be annoying but survivable. For another, it may send a couple to the brink of divorce, drive a wedge between mother and child and cause older siblings to act out.

It’s those cases that need the most medical intervention, he said, and not just from a physician.

At his clinic, every family has access to mental health specialists and treatment plans designed to help every family member cope better with the stress and strain that an infant’s colic puts on the whole family. I think that’s just about the most brilliant idea I’ve ever heard. My husband and I are just starting to rebuild our shredded relationship from the past few months. It is amazing what nonstop screaming can do to your mental status as well as to the way you treat even the people you love!

The good news is that even if it is “just” colic, it doesn’t last forever. There are colic remedies out there (several of which are mentioned in the article), so you don’t have to just accept that this is as good as it gets. Hang in there - it will pass!

(With thanks to Postpartum Progress.)

Posted by Sunshining.

Moms, I don’t have to tell you how exhausting parenting can be! There are theories and tips and recommendations for how to get your child to sleep, what activities she should attend at each age, and what his formerly unstructured free time should really look like. After all, nobody wants their kid to fall behind the norm, right? So we push and chauffeur and sign up and…drive ourselves (and probably the kids!) crazy.

I don’t know many moms these days with kids over the age of two or three who aren’t some form of overscheduled. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to get all of this stuff done - but how much of it is really necessary?

Rosa Brooks reminds us:

That mad swirl of activities? You get burned-out kids incapable of entertaining themselves. That homework you and your first-grader struggle through? It has zero educational benefit. That superhuman effort you make to protect your kids from every conceivable danger? It’s not necessarily helpful if it means they never learn how to evaluate dangers for themselves. Someday, our kids will have to function without us.

She blames the large-scale upswing of working moms for the increase in anxious, activity-filled parenting.

Only when large numbers of mothers did the unthinkable - found paid work - did Americans suddenly “discover” that truly effective “parenting” requires at least one adult to be focused 24/7 on the children and their “needs.” Surprise.

Brooks says that the recent downward trend in moms of kids under the age of six who work is because companies are not as family-friendly as they are profit-driven. How are moms supposed to cope with careers and kids when there’s that corporate/social demand to always give 110% to both?

I do think there is tremendous pressure on parents to do the popular culture-condoned right thing for their kids, but at the same time, surely we can learn from the parenting theories that exist without sacrificing our kids’ free time or our sanity. After all, they learn things from whatever they’re doing - even if that something is finger painting alone or chasing after older siblings playing soccer in the back yard.

Posted by Sunshine.

King Middle School in Portland, Maine, plans to offer birth control - and I don’t mean just condoms and a wish-you-well - to its students, who are usually in the 11-13 age range.

Students would need parental permission to use the city-run health center in the school, but they wouldn’t have to tell them they were seeking birth control.

Naturally, this decision has caused quite a firestorm. (See what MomSquawkers think here - register and weigh in!)

Defenders of the decision say the notion that young children can now easily get birth-control pills is flat wrong.

“They don’t just have a giant punch bowl full of pills,” [Portland School Committee member Robert O’Brien] said. The birth control will be given out only after extensive counseling, and no prepubescent children will get it, he claims.

Also, the school notes, condoms have been offered since 2000, but students were referred elsewhere for other birth control options. Students often did not follow up on that, so having birth control available at the school’s health center would ensure that those who need such protection would be more likely to get it.

Opponents of the measure say that children as young as 11 could manipulate the system to acquire birth control. Even Maine Governor John Baldacci has expressed concerns.

“I appreciate local officials trying to address a need in a medically appropriate way, but these are children,” he said in an interview with the AP. “An appropriate balance must be struck addressing the troubling situation that a small number of students find themselves in and recognizing the important role that parents and other family should play.”

What do you think? Is offering birth control to middle school students simply protecting our kids from pregnancies/STDs at an earlier age, or is the school making birth control too accessible too soon? Squawk back and share your thoughts!

Posted by Sunshining.

Few would disagree with the observation that parenting has grown trendier over time, as moms and dads dig in their heels and try to find ways to combine their pre-kid days with the steady rhythm of diaper changes and middle-of-the-night wakings.

But…disco clubs for little ones? Have we gone too far?

No way, say the many patrons of Baby Loves Disco events at Aubergine nightclub in San Diego. Tots get to dance; parents get to kick back with a margarita and connect with other moms and dads in the area. Everybody wins!

The merging of the two worlds makes sense when there are only so many hours in the day to be together as a family, said Sabina Skidmore, who runs the Baby Loves Disco events locally and also owns Babycakes, a children’s clothing boutique.

However, not everyone is as keen on the idea of finding a way to make everything adults enjoy kid-friendly, or vice versa.

Amy Tiemann, author of “Mojo Mom: Nurturing Your Self While Raising a Family,” sees a trend toward “over-intensive parenting,” in which everything is shared and done together. On the whole, she said, Generation Xers didn’t feel that close to their parents, so they’re trying desperately to bond with their children.

“The generation gap is almost erased,” she said. “You’ve got kids and parents practically wearing the same type of clothes.”

Tiemann said it’s important for parents, especially moms who have left the work force, to keep their identities. But that means carving out time for themselves, not including children in all of their activities.

While that’s certainly a valid concern, I lean toward the “This is very cool!” side of events like baby boogie nights. I like doing things with my kids, and if some of those things include actual adult conversation, what’s not to like?

Do you agree, or is the idea of baby disco carrying hip parenting too far? Squawk back and let me know!

Posted by Sunshining.

This morning, as every morning lately, I leave with a heavy heart. I am the first one out the door, leaving for work and taking our two oldest children with me to drop them off at school on the way. My husband stays behind with our toddler waiting for the nanny to arrive shortly after.

Clara, our youngest, is happily stomping around in a pair of my heels left near the front door the night before and as soon as she realises that we are gathering our schoolbags and getting ready to leave she bursts into tears crying “Bye bye! bye bye!” She wants to come with me and her older siblings. My husband scoops her up and I say goodbye and try to plant a kiss on her cheek but she only swats me away screeching “Noooo!!! Lah-lah (Clara) bye bye!!”

So I turn, give a wave, and get into the car. Sadly watching my two year old in hysterics through the glass front door.

But today is even more difficult. I just read an article about Rachel and David Clemens that broke my heart. Their two year old daughter, knowing that daddy was leaving, somehow got out of the house and was in the driveway when her father backed over her and she was killed.

The article refers to this as “bye bye syndrome” - when a young child sensing that others in the house are leaving wants to come along too. Statistically speaking, “Each week, at least two children are killed and another 50 are hurt in backover accidents.” And tragically, in most cases it is a family member driving the automobile. Even after 2.5 years, David Clemens’ pain is so raw and overwhelming he could not be interviewed for the article.

These are tragedies that can often be avoided. Please be sure that whenever you back out of your driveway you know where your children are. My heart truly aches for the Clemens family, and I thank them for having the courage to give the interview so that hopefully tragedies like this can be avoided. As for me, although my heart breaks to see my little girl crying in her fathers arms in the doorway, at least I can be assured that she is safe.

Posted by Meganlux

As touched on briefly in today’s NewsSquawk, Georgia Brown is not your average two-year old. She has the distinction of being the youngest girl ever accepted to the prestigious genius club Mensa. Her parents, seeing that she appeared to be very bright and concerned about her future education, took the girl to see specialists. It was then that they discovered that she is in the top .2 percent of the population with an IQ of 152.

Who is a typical Mensan? From their web site:

Mensans range in age from 4 to 94, but most are between 20 and 60. In education they range from preschoolers to high school dropouts to people with multiple doctorates. There are Mensans on welfare and Mensans who are millionaires. As far as occupations, the range is staggering. Mensa has professors and truck drivers, scientists and firefighters, computer programmers and farmers, artists, military people, musicians, laborers, police officers, glassblowers–the diverse list goes on and on. There are famous Mensans and prize-winning Mensans, but there are many whose names you wouldn’t know.

Having a two year old myself, I find the things that Georgia apparently can do are impressive. I have always held these tests as an indicator of potential, but let’s face it there are some really smart people in the world that do stupid things, and as their website explains, just having a high IQ dos not guarantee future success. I’m curious as to what Georgia’s parents intentions are, and how this will impact Geogria’s future. It is one thing to test your child’s potential IQ and to direct an education that maximises her potential - it is another thing to enter her into Mensa and notify the news media. And I can’t help but wonder if they are so keen to sign her up for a genius club, what other things are they doing to pressure this little girl.

In any case, I do wish the family all the best and I really hope that Georgia grows up a happy, healthy, well-balanced girl.

Posted by Meganlux

My daughter had field day yesterday, and while I was tending to my two-year-old as well as my neighbor’s 21-month-old, and feeling totally exasperated with one going one way and one going the other, I took notice of two dads.

The first dad, a father of three, wore his youngest in a navy blue Baby Bjorn. He was draping a pink blanket over his sleeping beauty, and there was something very touching, to me, seeing this dad with his babe and mom standing by his side.

The second dad, a stay-at-home father of two, takes in foster children. Cradling his 3-month-old foster baby, Lily, as if she were his own could not have been any sweeter or look any more natural to him. He is a wonderful dad who is doing what I typically see the moms do. He picks his oldest up from Girl Scouts, brings her to basketball with the others in tow, and very often is carting an infant car seat in the crook of his arm. He does it with such ease and always has a smile on his face, obviously loving his life as well as the children in his life.

What was it about these particular dads that made me take notice? It was the fact that they are dads. Typically, I see the mom heading in a hundred directions, wiping noses and kissing heads. Especially where infants are concerned. These dads were able to get beyond the stigma that I believe many men feel.

I love it. My husband was, and still is, very involved with my children, but he is definitely missing the nurturing gene that these dads possess.

Forget Dolly the sheep. We need to learn how to clone these dads. In the approach of Father’s Day, kudos to these dads as well as any other dads who take such an interest in their infants.

Posted by Mally

Over here in Europe, it has been the headline story for the past two weeks. An English family was on vacation in Portugal, and their beautiful 4 year old daughter was kidnapped from their hotel room. A tragic story. Her website has seen over 50 million hits, and international celebrities such as Richard Branson and JK Rowling have offered over 2.5 million pounds (nearly 5 million USD!) for information leading to her safe return.

And now it has also turned into a “hot topic“around the world. Where it becomes controversial is that Madeline and her 2 younger siblings were sleeping alone in the room, while their parents were having dinner nearby.

Some have been quick to judge them as “bad parents”, and perhaps they are by current American standards. However, there are some cultural differences that I can see from being an American living and raising my kids in Europe, and I can honestly say I can see why they would have left their children sleeping while they dined very close by.

Let me start by saying that bad things occur here in Europe as well. The region where I live was traumatised by the Belgian pedophile problems some years back.� But generally, there is a stronger sense of safety over here than there is in the US.

The parents in this case are educated people - I believe they are both physicians. They certainly should “know better”. But, leaving your children to sleep in your hotel room is not uncommon over here. Whenever we travel to a “resort type” hotel with our children, we are usually offered a baby monitor that either we can carry with ourselves to dinner, or the reception will listen to for us. We are also offered a babysitter (additional fee) if we choose.

While the media has spun this to say that the parents just left their kids alone and went out, the parents have said that they were dining downstairs in the hotel complex, and one parent had gone every 30 minutes or so to check on them.

How to I personally feel about this case? On one hand, knowing the culture over here I can definitely see why they did it. On the other hand, even though I have often had this option, I am not comfortable leaving my kids alone and requesting a babysitter in our room is our well, my, preferred option. (That’s the American in me that often drives my European spouse crazy, but he has learnt not to fight me on these things!) In any case, my heart aches for this entire family.

But for now, the real focus should be on the safe return of this precious little girl.

Posted by Meganlux

Their name might ring a bell - they are the Duggar family.  And mom, Michelle, is due to give birth to their 17th child in the upcoming months.  Michelle is 40 years old and gave birth to their first child 19 years ago at age 21. Most of the 17 children were single births, with only 2 sets of twins. Yeah, do the maths - she has been pregnant most of her adult life. (Kudos to her for having the strength to do that!) And she apparently has no plans to stop.

Large families seem to be a thing from past generations.  But there are still many large families around!  Families, like people, come in all sizes.  I always wanted to be in a large family as a�kid.��While I�was growing up with just one brother, my best friend was from a family of 8 kids, and I used to LOVE going to their house for Sunday lunch!  And while she complained about sharing a bedroom with 3 sisters, I was thrilled to squeeze next to her�in her little pullout trundle bed for a sleepover.

I always try to look at something from many angles.  As a mom who at times finds it difficult to balance the needs of three kids, I wondered if these kids were getting enough special “mommy time”.  But they have a bigger brother/sister to “buddy” with, so what they lack in individual parental attention is certainly made up with family love.  And as a mom who often struggles to find some “me” time, I applaud Michelle for being able to make their family unit work so well!  (And gosh if I don’t feel selfish right now!)

The Duggars seem like wonderful loving parents - and I am sure their family is blessed.  I guess all I can say is that this is their individual choice, and if they can accomplish this independently without “living off the system”, great for them.

But one thing keeps bugging me.  They have given a lot of media interviews and have even had reality shows taped of their family life.  Is it worth it to display your family in a reality TV show and open them up to the often cruel criticism of strangers to be able to finance yourself to have even more kids? Again, it is their choice.  While I would expect someone (with fewer brain cells) like Ozzie Osbourne or Gene Simmons to do this, it surprises me that the Duggars have.

Well, I will close my post with this.  If I could ask Michelle Duggar one question… I would ask her how in the world does she find the time, privacy and energy to make the next kid?

Posted by Meganlux.