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Infants with a Challenging Temperament—Little Babies
with Big Personalities
Lizzy and her twin sister Jennifer were like two peas in a
pod, both supersensitive to noise and sudden movements.
When unhappy, their faces flushed and cries flew out of
their mouths with deafening force.
However, while Jenny was usually able to quiet her own

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crying, Lizzy’s screams pulled her like a team of wild
horses. Once she got rolling, she had no ability to rein
herself in!
Lizzy’s mother, Cheryl, tried to regain control of her
frenzied daughter with pacifiers, wrapping, and constant
holding, but nothing helped. “For the first three months, I
walked around every day not knowing when the ‘train
wreck’ would occur.”
Babies like Lizzy are tough. During the first few months of life, their
personalities can be too big for them to handle. That’s why parents often
dub these babies with funny names to remind themselves not to take life
too seriously. For example, Amanda’s parents nicknamed her
“Demanda,” Natalie Rose’s parents called her “Fussy Gassy Gussy,” and
Lachlan’s parents referred to him as “General Fuss-ter.”
Two types of temperament can be particularly challenging for new
parents: sensitive and intense.
Sensitive Babies: Perceptive Infants Who Can Be as
Fragile as Crystal
Of course, we all know that some people are much more sensitive than
others. One person can sleep with the TV on while another is annoyed
by any little sound. Some newborns also show signs of being extra
sensitive, such as jumping when the telephone rings, grimacing at the
taste of lanolin on your nipple, or turning her head to the smell of your
breast.
Sensitive babies are wide-eyed and super-alert; their reactions to the
world are as transparent and pure as crystal. But like crystal, sensitive
infants are often fragile and require extra care. They are so open to
everything around them they can easily become overloaded. That’s why
these babies have such a hard time settling themselves when they’re left
to cry it out. In other words, they can go bonkers from being bonkers!
If your newborn has a sensitive temperament, she may occasionally
look away from you during her feeding or playtime. This is called “gaze
aversion.” Gaze aversion occurs when you get a little too close to your

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baby’s eyes. Imagine a ten-foot face suddenly coming right in front of
your nose. You, too, might need to look away or pull back a bit and
check it out from a more comfortable distance! Don’t mistake this for a
sign that she doesn’t like you or want to look at you. Just move back a
foot or two and allow her to have slightly more space between her eyes
and your face.