Knowing Your Baby

To be a smart parent, you need to know your baby. Knowing your baby will help you make your baby smarter.

Observing and Bonding

Your baby grows incredibly fast. Observing your baby’s unique personality development is critically important. In general, babies may be grouped into three types: the easy, the slow, and the difficult.

If your baby is “easy,” congratulations! You must have done an excellent job throughout your pregnancy. If your baby happens to be “slow” or even “difficult,” don’t get disheartened; you just need more energy and effort to help your baby turn around to live up to his fullest potentials and to reach his personal best.

How do you know which classification your baby may fall into during the first few weeks?

For one thing, there are no hard-and-fast rules governing each classification. Just do your best to observe your baby’s behavior, personality, and temperament.

Types of Baby

Easy Babies

Easy babies usually eat and sleep well, and they are generally very responsive to your attention and the environment. In addition, they do not cry that often, and are less irritable.

Slow Babies

Slow babies take time to warm up, as well as to respond to your attention and the environment. They generally smile less often, and require a stronger stimulus or greater attention.

Difficult Babies

Difficult babies cry a lot during their sleep. They fuss a great deal during their waking time; they scream and struggle, and are more difficult to be comforted.

Which type does your baby fall into? Pay attention to how your baby eats and sleeps, how your baby moves his arms and legs, how your baby reacts to the environment with different sounds. Be very observant of your baby’s unique behavior and personality development.

Does your baby react strongly and quickly to different sounds?

Is your baby eager to touch, grasp, and mouth anything within his reach?

Is your baby easily contented?

Is your baby moving a lot?

Does your baby easily become restless during sleep?

Does your baby easily become accustomed to any new stimulus?

Finding answers to the above questions may help you know the personality of your baby. For example, if you ring a bell, and your baby easily becomes accustomed to the sound of a bell—that is, without becoming startled or turning his head; that means your baby has the capability to “block out” the distraction and to concentrate on something new or specific. This is often a positive sign of early cognitive development.

Remember, nothing is set in stone: you can always help your baby grow out of any type.     

Accepting and Appreciating

No matter what type your baby may fall into, it is your baby. Develop a gently loving approach to understand, accept, and appreciate your baby’s behavior, capability, personality, and temperament. Remember, you can always improve his personality and temperament. Appreciate your baby’s uniqueness is important to his personality growth. The bonding between the baby and the parents plays a pivotal role in the baby’s own physical and mental development. This relationship is the groundwork for the baby’s learning experience, as well as the baby’s individual personality traits and abilities. If you want your baby to become super smart, always enhance this bonding and relationship.

Remember the following:

Always create a nurturing environment in which your baby can grow cognitively.

Learn to relax if your baby is too demanding; try to take a nap while your baby is sleeping.

Learn to smile when approaching your screaming baby. Remember, your baby may be as miserable as you are, and he is there not to annoy you.

Accept a difficult baby: things will change for the better sooner or later.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau