Baby personalities

[glossyflower]

Hi everyone.
I was wondering what your babies personalities were like, and how it developed when they became older?
Can you tell how your child will be later on in life from how they are as a baby?
My DD is 12 weeks old. She's generally very contented, she's happy to lay on her play mat by herself, or happy to sit up and gurgle and chat to me. She seems fine with other people and strangers, and will smile and coo at them too. She sleeps well, settles down from 7pm, usually is asleep by 830pm and sleeps until 5am - 6am.

Well...what immediately springs to mind is how our dd was just the smiliest most friendly baby you could ever hope to meet. Now she is 4, she is a shy and cautious child, very wary of people she doesn't know. She will hide her face if a stranger speaks to her, and tbh quite often when family members that she does know speak to her too.
She's quiet and plays her cards close to her chest. She takes after her dad in this respect...who has an introverted personality...but to know her as a baby, you would have thought her a proper little social butterfly.

On the other hand - ds2 was a different breed. He rarely sought contact from people, and was happy doing his own thing. He wasn't a big one for eye contact or smiles, or interaction. Nowedays at 5 he is a proper chatterbox and friendly as anything. He loves socialising and gets stuck in no matter what - he'll chat to anyone that cares to listen to him.

Ds1 was a smiley and outgoing baby, and has remained so throughout his life. He is 11 now and every bit as sunny natured as he has always been.

So in summary - in my experience, you can't know.

DD is now 15. As a baby she slept through from 12 weeks, very happy and smiley and very rarely cried. She always wanted to be in the thick of it, rather being down on the floor playing than sitting on laps. As a teenager she is very bright, very quick witted and very sociable with lots of friends. Can have the normal teenage grumps but most of the time is her usual bubbly self. She did go through stages at 6 and then 11 of not sleeping well but seems to be ok now.

DS is now 17
As a baby he was into everything, very inquisitive. He also slept through from 12 weeks. He was a bit of a frustrated baby and would spend two weeks crying before he mastered whatever development stage he was fussing over in his head and then it would emerge fully developed. He was just desperate to be grown up and do grown up things and everyone commented on his maturity all the way through his life. Now he is 17 he seems to be regressing
He is a deep thinker, quiet but confident with strangers but life and soul of the party with those he knows well.

Am hoping that babyhood bears little resemblance to personality traits whn older as DS was a nightmare as a newborn!

A colicky non-sleeper who fussed on every bottle for the first 15 weeks of his life and cried all night!! Now at 7 months he is much more happy and settled but is still what I would call a 'fussy' baby....lots of tears and grizzling with frustration as he tried to master new skills, likebruffin says above.

I have heard tales of people with babies like this who turned out to be really really easy delightful toddlers so I live in hope!

Similar to pictish.
Dd1 was smiley, loved people, slept loads, ate everything.
She's 12 now and very shy (except when performing), serious, suffers from quite bad insomnia and eats enough to keep a sparrow alive on a good day.
What has stayed the same all the way up is she's very cautious. She won't do something unless she's sure she can do it. As a baby this meant she didn't walk until she was 15 months, but within a week walked everywhere and never crawled again. Now she will use a different word rather than spell a tricky one wrong and won't attempt things she's not confident of doing. If it can't be right she'd rather not do it.

Dd2 perfected the glare at anyone other than me, I was concerned that she hadn't really done a big smile at all by 5/6 months. Took me to age 3yo nearly to get a photo with a smile on. Didn't sleep, ate half a cherry tomato and a bite of toast a day (typically).
She's now the child you see bouncing up saying "will you play with me", her smile is mentioned regularly by all sorts of people and eats anything in quantity.
What is similar is she's very determined to do things she wants to. Having no left hand we were told she might not crawl-she crawled before 6 months and walked by 8 months-and climbed things dd1 hadn't thought of climbing ever! She still jumps into things without thinking, rushes through things she doesn't enjoy (like school work) not caring if it's right as long as she finishes.

Ds was a totally laid back baby. He smiled at anything and everything that came near, babbled loads from an early age. Loved to just lie there under his gym and watch the world. Happy to go to anyone. Ate well, slept dreadfully, although that was mostly due to ear infections.
You wouldn't describe ds as laid back now, he gets completely over excited/wound up very easily (he is only 5 though). He ended up with speech therepy, due to hearing issues and still doesn't sleep brilliantly. Still has some separation anxiety, I usually have to peel him off me in a new situation, and if he's not sure.
He still eats well, and still has the same mischievous cheeky sense of humour he had from a very early age. When he was about 3 months he rolled over onto my keys and was killing himself laughing as I searched desperately for them-couldn't believe it but he knew exactly what he'd done. Little monkey.

Thanks guys, your stories are really interesting to read xxx

According to MIL, BIL was the most placid baby going. He's now a real stress-head, his favourite thing is his big, fast motorbike, and he's prone to angry outbursts - not threatening or aggressive at all to people, but has been known to kick an item of furniture in frustration then spend the rest of the morning fixing it. He's very practical and good with his hands.

DH was much more active and inquisitive from the time he started wriggling in the womb. He was into everything as a baby, and now he's a voracious reader, has a very technical but sedentary job, and a very much more chilled personality. He wouldn't dream of kicking the furniture (and I wouldn't stand for it if he did), but wouldn't have a clue how to fix it if he broke something. He's still active in that he plays sports several times a week, and is fiercely competitive, but can spend a whole Sunday in bed given the chance, which his brother would never do. BIL would be out on his bike at first light.

Mine are all similar to when they were babies I guess

Dc2 was exceptionally chilled out and happy, is still happy but is mega loud now which she wasn't as a baby

Dd is 3 and is a lively little thing, will talk to anyone and has a vivid imagination. She is very physical and wants to try everything that the big kids are doing. She was a bit grumpy as a newborn- it never really suited her. Even from a few weeks she wanted to find her feet and be upright so she could see what was going on. She was a quick crawler and walker as she was desperate to be on the move. She isn't scared of anything and has never cried at preschool drop off etc. So her personality (I call it spirited!) has been consistent but will be interested to see how it develops when she starts school.

Btw the baby whisperer defines different personality types in babies if you're interested x