After nine months filled with 24/7 "morning sickness," I gave birth on August 3, 2000, four days before my due date. I had a very healthy baby girl named Autumn Tala. Right from the start we noticed how strong she was, but the first few weeks were fairly silent. Then, as she got a little older and more vocal, my dh and I experienced what appeared to be temper tantrums. Of course, we were told that that was impossible. As Autumn got older, I began to suspect that she might be "high needs" because of a small post I had seen on a different board. When she was about 4 months old, I came to this board and found the "11 Traits of High-Needs Babies" and realized that my dd fit every single one of them. She would constantly nurse, and scream horrible sounds if you so much as looked away from her. I felt lucky that she slept through the night most nights because that is unusual for high needs babies. She sleeps about 10 hours at night now (she's 5 months old), and only wakes up at night about 30 percent of the time. I am thankful that she is not as extreme a case as some other babies I have read about, but she is very, very clingy. My dh can't even hold her for very long periods, if at all. She tries to literally jump from his arms into mine. I love my dd, and I feel that I will do the best job I can of raising to learn how to cope with those feelings. I know this, because I was the same way as a child, and I can emphathize with her. I feel closer to her, and I know things will get better over time. She is extremely advanced in both physical and verbal skills. I know she will be intelligent. I myslef learned to walk at 9 months, and potty-trained myself at 10 months. So I know I have a lot to look forward to in terms of watching her grow up and become more independent. Lisa
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