ohhhhh.... Wow such a topic close to my heart.

Often these individuals find it hard to "switch off" whatever age they are, and they can be challenging infants to care for because they tend to fight sleep, sleep briefly, wake frequently and find re-settling difficult. For THOSE babies a lack of eye contact during loving settling can be especially useful as their madly inquiring minds are LOOKING for a reason to keep them awake and learning. Babies like that, if cherished and understood, learn fast and excel in academia but tend to find hand crafts and so on difficult because they lack patience. Being understanding and loving while maintaining semi-strict routines can really assist such children in developing their abilities in different areas to the maximum as it TEACHES them the patience they lack.
There have been times when I have emotionally blamed myself for Matilda's developmental issues. I say issues because some of it could be normal, and some could be abnormal. We are going to a developmental clinic in a month for an assessment.

Anyway.... somewhere on my journey I have read heaps about the crying issues. I blamed myself for Matilda's development for her sleeping session. She refused to go to sleep in our arms. She had to be put down. If I held her in my arms, she would scream for up to 2 hours; if I put her down & walked out in a black room, she was asleep in 40 minutes. So which is more stressful for her, for me ? I prefered to hold her but it was demoralising holding a baby who was pushing me away and arching her back for such a long time. When I had to be away from her I would sit outside the door and sob. Neither way was beneficial for my stress levels, but the less time the better.

SOOOO... bringing a totally personal note to the debate.... which I know isn't about how bad parenting causes things..

Anyway... in my jumbled thoughts (with a few crash tackles from Matilda for cuddles)... I just have to say maybe even some of those developmental issues such as stimulation (i.e. eye contact) may come from birth. I spoke with one child psychologist who said that the birth itself could be the cause of developmental issues, another told me that the time of birth (prior to EDD, pre EDD etc etc) has a huge say in the development of the mind of children. Matilda was 17 days post EDD and he said that children born after 42 weeks are known for being flighty, escape artists, etc etc until a stage of development where they catch up. Sometimes its 5 years, sometimes its puberty (I hope its 5 years for my grey hair count ).