Days or even hours after their children are born, parents reach
conclusions about their temperaments. They may describe their babies
as fussy or easygoing, sensitive or curious. For years, pediatricians
and psychologists paid little attention to parents' very early descriptions
of their babies, chalking them up to wishful thinking or naiveté.
But now we know that these parents were right all along!
Temperament is a description of how a child reacts to the
world around her. It's a personal style. For example, while all
babies become startled and cry, some do so in many situations, while
others in only a few. Some babies seem to take changes in stride;
others become upset at the slightest shift in their routine.
This means that some babies are more "difficult" or "labor-intensive"
than others. But no matter what the temperament, you'll find that
life's a lot easier at home if you work with your baby's
style rather than try to fight it.
Here are the standard variables or dimensions that psychologists
use to study children's temperaments:
- Activity level. Is your baby generally squirmy and active,
or relaxed and laid back? (There's some evidence that very active
newborns are the ones that mothers complained about as kicking
a lot before they were born!)
- Regularity. How predictable are your baby's eating and
sleeping cycles?
- Approach/Withdrawal. How does your baby respond to new
situations and people? Does she brighten when she sees something
new or does she recoil?
- Adaptability. How well does your baby handle changes
in her schedule or minor disruptions in her activities? If she
becomes upset, does she recover quickly?
- Sensory threshold. How sensitive is your baby to bright
lights, loud noises or scratchy clothes?
- Mood. Does your baby appear to be basically happy or
generally upset and angry?
- Intensity. How loud is your baby when she's either excited
or unhappy? Does she seem extroverted or subdued?
- Distractibility. If your baby is hungry, for example,
can you stop her crying temporarily by talking to her quietly
or giving her a pacifier?
- Persistence. Does your baby play with a simple toy for
a long time, or does she prefer to go quickly from toy to toy?
Thinking about your baby's temperament in these terms may give
you clues to solving some of the behavior problems that you find
especially frustrating. If, for example, your baby has a low sensory
threshold you may notice that she startles and cries when a radio
or a light in her room is turned on. But the signs may be more suble
than that. She might reject a bottle because it's too warm or too
cold. She might push away from you or scream when you pick her up
because she's so sensitive to touch. Temperament might explain why
a child like this doesn't like to be rocked to sleep--it's just
too stimulating--while another child with a different temperament
might love it.
For more information see Pregnancy and Your Baby's First Year by Lawrence Kutner, Ph.D. available at Amazon.com.
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