Baby/Toddler Personalities

I was just thinking the other day about something that my doctor said at my follow-up appointment after Marieke was born. She said that her kids "declared themselves" in the first 24 hours - that is, their personalities that they still have today were evident right away. It is certainly true (so far) for my girls. Elyse cried and nursed for the first 24 (48) hours after her delivery (aaaahhhh!!!) and she is still very high stress today. Every little issue involves tears and fussing for her. Marieke slept for most of her first 24 hours, and while she certainly knows her own mind, and is plenty fiesty, she is much more easy going. When she trips and falls, she just gets up again! She also slept through the night much sooner, and had a lot less general fussiness than Elyse. Of course, they are still young so there is no way to know for sure if they will always be like this, but so far, it matches up with their behaviour right after delivery.
I'm curious if others find this true for their children. Could you see their personality that they have now, right away?

I even noticed that you could start to see a bit of their personality in the womb. One of mine was very standoffish to DH and wouldn't let him feel her kick until there was no room left and then would kick him really hard to move him away if he cuddled me in bed. She is a real mummy's girl and as a baby wouldn't settle for anyone but me. DS loved letting dH feel him move and would move to be near his hand, he is now much closer to DH and is happy to be with either of us.

Definatly! DS was very calm and a very easy going baby. He is still the same now, he'll go and do his own thing and has a calm nature.

DD was very active in the womb and stubborn (she was breech). From the moment she was born she was very high maintenance and she still is!

DD2 is very independant already, hardly sleeps during the day and constantly wants to be aware of whats going on. I'll let you know in a few years if she stays that way!

I was watching "In the Womb" last night and they had twins that were observed fighting. Twin 1 would kick twin 2 and twin 2 would move away and lay his head on the placenta. They said that when the twins were older, twin1 would fight with twin2 and he would go into his room and lay his head down on the pillow.

SO, I definatly think their personalities show throw in the beggining!

My DD was different, from birth to first 3 months she was calm easy going then at 3 months she started to change. As she's become more aware and alert of the world around her she has become strong willed and knows what she wants when she wants and gets cross if anything is in her way. She'll only cat nap in the day cause she doesn't want to miss out on anything. She doesn't cry really but she sort of shouts when she wants something like she is yelling out to us to hurry up and get our butts to her!

DH says DS is a mummy's boy already, and in the womb he would avoid DH unless we were having a cuddle, when DH would get a kick (I disagree, but DH reckons DS likes me a lot more).

DS loved to dance away whilst in the womb and he's actually a fab dancer, and one great way to stop him crying is to get him to dance/bounce... he just shuts up as soon as he starts to bounce and we've even had him dancing the Time Warp and loving it! (I'm not trying for Swan Lake just yet LOL.)

DS was also most content just to stay put in the womb for as long as possible and he's a very content little chap, happy to just lie in his bed or sit in his chair for about half an hour before wanting some attention (he does get over-stimulated quickly, but won't let you know about it until he gets overtired and needs jigging just to calm him down), so it's wonderful if he decides he is up for the day at 6am and I need to get myself dressed and eat breakfast!

DS also hated being monitored and would run away from anything that measured his heart rate... he hates having his chest exposed now and hates beeping sounds... but then, we had the machine that goes "ping!" at the birth (DH wasn't reassured when I mentioned it in theatre) so he may just be reacting to that.

DS also refused to feed for the first 16 hours... I hope that's not indicitive of things to come, he's still a bit fussy about starting to eat now, but I hope that doesn't get worse.

i agree with womb/outside life, dd was always weary of unfamilar voices and still is!!!, although she was very active when awake but slept alot inside she's very mellow on the outside and still sleeps heaps!!

Yes for sure.
DD barely made a peep in her first few days. I think she was about a week old before I heard her cry (except for when she was actually born) and even then it hardly would've woken the dead. She just slept and ate. That was pretty much her for the first year....until she turned two then all hell broke loose ha.

DS was a bit more alert right from the get-go. He fed more than DD, but he was also a pretty decent sleeper. He is much more of a mummy's boy than DD. Now at 5 months he's still pretty easy but just a little more of a challenge than DD at the same age.