Dealing with hyperactivity

Hyperactivity affects thousands of babies, children and adults in varying degrees. It is symptomatic of a wide range of disorders that affect behaviour, learning processes and communication. A child is often affected before birth and measures have to be taken to prevent the problem deteriorating or serious disabilities may occur which threaten the child’s future development.

Children whose mothers suffered from poor nutrition, severe stress, allergy or illness during pregnancy, are particularly predisposed to hyperactivity, and it is common to find mothers of hyperactive children suffering from migraine, hayfever, rhinitis, arthritis, asthma and eczema.

The symptoms of hyperactivity in infancy are:

Crying, screaming, restless, some need very little sleep
Colic, very difficult to feed, whether breast or bottle
Cannot be pacified or cuddled
Excessive dribbling, may be very thirsty
Head banging, cot rocking, fits and tantrums

The symptoms in older children are:

Clumsy, impulsive, often accident prone
Erratic disruptive behaviour
Compulsive ‘touching’, constant motion
Disturbs other children, may be aggressive
Lacks concentration and may be withdrawn
Normal or high IQ but fails at school
Poor appetite
Poor hand and eye co-ordination
Uncooperative, defiant, disobedient
Self abusive
Continued problems with sleep

Hyperactivity is more likely to affect boys than girl in a ratio of 3:1.

The condition is believed to be triggered by a sensitivity to certain foods: mainly those containing artificial colours, flavourings, sweeteners, and preservatives. The colouring tartrazine (E102) has been found to trigger problems in sensitive children and, while it is recognised that read more