The truth about your baby’s temperament

Between four and seven months you may notice significant changes in your baby’s personality and their temperament may start to become clear. Activity level, distractibility, intensity, regularity, sensory threshold, approach/withdrawal, adaptability, persistence and mood help define a child’s natural temperament. Sometimes there are challenges with parenting children that have active, busy and irregular tendencies compared to the calm, easily soothed baby that may make a caregiver feel more competent in their abilities.

Adapting to your child’s natural personality in the long run is better for everyone.

The key is to understand your baby’s temperament and find a way to meet their needs even if they are very different from your own. If your child seems to have no natural daily pattern or rhythm but you are a strict-schedule fanatic, you can work to help your child develop some rhythm, but try to meet in the middle and remain flexible. If your child is extremely active, be sure to provide them with safe outlets to physically move and explore. If your child initially responds with withdrawal to a new situations, be aware of this and introduce new people, objects, and events slowly.

Sometimes your temperament truly doesn’t match your child’s and this presents a unique challenge.

In the long run, it will be a lesson in flexibility for both of you as you adapt to the needs of one another. Enjoy your child’s uniqueness and style as it develops and try not to expect anything other than their natural tendencies; as they grow you can modify these tendencies to help them be successful, well rounded children and adults. We refer to my son as dramatic because he has a very active and intense temperament and is sensitive to new stimuli. I am excited to see how these traits will become skills as a teen and adult. I look forward to his persistent attitude serving him well in the future, even if his present day temperament can feel challenging and demanding at times.

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