Postpartum ADHD: diagnosed at 34 after my second kid. Is this common?

Late ADHD diagnosis after children, including after a second baby, is commonly reported. CADDRA's practice summary on ADHD and hormones in women notes that ADHD in women is often under-recognised and that late adult diagnosis is common. That does not prove pregnancy caused ADHD. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, and fertility treatment can change the benefit-risk discussion, so medication changes need review with the clinicians involved rather than a forum-based plan. Related reading: https://www.fastreat.com/en/blogs/adhd-in-women-signs References: https://www.caddra.ca/wp-content/uploads/Practice-Summary-based-on-ADHD-and-Hormones-in-Women-with-Sara-Binder.pdf https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng87/chapter/recommendations https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd/

I was diagnosed at 35 after my second, and I spent a year thinking I had just become a worse person. Sleep was shredded. I told the assessor about school reports from the 90s so it was not only a postpartum story. I did not start a stimulant from a parenting podcast. Just my late paperwork, and I would not tell anyone a second baby created their ADHD.

Sleep was the part nobody counted when I said I could not run a house after the second baby. A friend had postpartum depression and I was terrified it was that; the crisis line card stayed on the fridge. ADHD got named later. I would not collapse those into one story for anyone else. I kept taking the crisis card seriously even after the ADHD label arrived.