Understanding Your Baby's Personality

Your baby's personality is unique, even from an early age. One baby might be quiet, another alert, one aggressive, another laid-back. Over the first few years, your baby will develop the personality type that will follow him into adulthood. Learn how your baby's personality is formed and how to encourage healthy development.

By Erin Smith

Thayer Allyson Gowdy

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Genetic Factors

Though little is known about how genes affect the personality of your baby, doctors agree that something causes siblings to have completely opposite or decidedly similar personalities. Researchers are currently studying how genes influence Baby's personality, but they do know that Baby's environment and your presence play crucial roles in her personality as an adult. "There is definite nature and nurture influence on personality. There are people who are definitely introverted and people who are extroverted, and that is just the way they are. Introverts are not necessarily bad at social situations; they're just uncomfortable, and that's a definite biological, genetic thing," says Jen Meyers, coauthor of Raising Your Child.

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