fussiness/birth experience correlation?

Phalaenopsis · December 2013

Hi gals,
So I'm reading this book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and it mentioned a study that found a link/correlation between delivery experience and fussiness in the newborn. Specifically, a more stressful birth experience would mean a baby that cried more often or more likely to have colic. Clearly, since I'm reading this book on a Friday night, you can probably guess where my baby falls on the spectrum! I thought it was interesting since I had a very stressful birth experience, long 36+ hour painful back labor that ended in c-section and my baby is a little high-maintenance diva.
Without further adieu, what is your baby's temperament?

MrsStuessyWI · December 2013

Is this just labor and delivery or also immediately after? My L&D was super smooth, but the next 24 hours LO was in the NICU being poked and prodded because of a breathing issue and meconium in her water.

kimbo1216 · December 2013

None of the above. I had a pretty easy slip and slide baby. She is occasionally fussy throughout the day. She's not really either end of the spectrum IMO.

SnoopyLuv · December 2013

DD1 was a scheduled c-section. She was a nightmare and very sensitive. DD2 was a VBAC induction failure. She is as calm as a cucumber. So, for us it's not true.

kkeating22 · December 2013

I voted for easy birth/delivery, but post-delivery was not easy as I was taken for emergency surgery right after birth. It was a few hours before I was able to hold LO.

Phalaenopsis · December 2013

MrsStuessyWI said:

Is this just labor and delivery or also immediately after? My L&D was super smooth, but the next 24 hours LO was in the NICU being poked and prodded because of a breathing issue and meconium in her water.

I can't find the exact quote in the book but I think just the L+D experience

Phalaenopsis · December 2013

kimbo1216 said:

None of the above. I had a pretty easy slip and slide baby. She is occasionally fussy throughout the day. She's not really either end of the spectrum IMO.

Yeah, they mention the 'intermediate temperament' babies, and almost half of babies fall in that category.

MargaretC5 · December 2013

My labor sounds very similar to yours, I had back labor for 35 hours then a c-section. (I also had an induction 2 weeks before that failed and I was sent home still pregnant.) My labor was pretty horrible, but my baby is very relaxed and laid back. Sorry, but I don't think your theory does not work for my case.

ballygirl · December 2013

This is interesting to me. My girls are identical, so I thought that they would have similar temperaments as newborns but they don't. Haley was more stressed before birth- she was sort if squished into my pelvis and didn't have an equal share of the placenta. Her heart rate dropped during delivery and led to a Csection. She is definitely the more fussy one. Lizzy had tons of room in the placenta, was bigger at birth and is a pretty chill baby.

bnikiz · December 2013

Dd was a scheduled csection. She was moderately fussy. Ds i went unto labor total 10 hours 3 were pushing. Ended in a csection bc his head was too big. He is a super easy baby. Boob solves everything and anything for him lol

RedZee · December 2013

Very stressful l&d with DD1 and she was a super happy baby outside of her witching hour.

Pretty much ideal l&d with DD2 a sns she is a pretty grumpy baby and had periods where she just cries and i have no clue why.

Amjoy25 · December 2013

Horrifying delivery and PP but easy baby...my labor was pretty smooth actually; just ended in section instead of vaginally. So begins my nightmare.

Bakeshan28 · December 2013

Fussy baby and crazy labor.

jennlin · December 2013

I'm just mad so many of you had easy labors.

BrittanyCupcakes · December 2013

We had a pretty rough birth experience (induction, 32 hours of labor, emergency c-section due to cord prolapse, then she was hypoglycemic and jaundiced and spent 6 days in NICU). LO is fussy, but manageable. There are days that are worse than others, and I don't have anything to compare her to, but I don't think she's really that bad.

BlessUrHeart29 · December 2013

I feel like the answer to everything for me is "medium." My L&D was medium stressful, and my baby is medium fussy. As soon as he was born everything went to hell for a couple of days, so it's possible that the L&D experience was more stressful for him than I realized. So... I don't feel like I can participate in this poll. I'm too much of a special snowflake.

Inn2 · December 2013

Rough pregnancy, but due to my body, nothing with him. Rough labor ending in an emergency c-section...again my body failed. Some fussiness when hungry or over-tired, but nothing major. Love that little boy.

babyLOLO13 · December 2013

I voted Rough experience, fairly easy babe. 26 hour back labor- 24 of that natural before epi. Followed by LO under lights for high Billirubin levels for 2 days. Yet he's fairly easy... Of course has his fussy times but is pretty easy to soothe, cries usually out of hunger or exhaustion only, and sleeps in 3-5 hour chunks.

sweettooth87 · December 2013

Super stressful labor and delivery but I've got a very easy going/calm newborn.

finnybooboo · December 2013

It's funny because dd has her witching hours most evenings starting at like 6pm. This is also when I started trying to push her out for 3 hours before we came to the conclusion she was too big and had a csection. We joke that she gets worked up at that time because of this.

knottied2a666e3e38a2a87 · December 2013

I am one with a smooth labor and a fussy baby. For us, I sometimes theorize that it has something to do with the stresses I experienced during pregnancy. I began the pregnancy with no health insurance, started two new jobs, lived with friends, bought a house...it all made me crazy (despite the baths, exercise, meditation) and I think sometimes he is anxious like I was.

Lhand11 · December 2013

I think if your baby has a few fussy periods in a day or even a witching hour in the evening, they are be considered easy babies. I would think if your baby never fussed at all, it would be a rarity. All my opinion, obviously.

MangoMama82 · December 2013

From first contraction to delivery I was in labor for 2 hours 56 minutes. It was fast and as easy as labor could be. I have a fussy baby.

SnoopyLuv · December 2013

cjrobbin said:

I am one with a smooth labor and a fussy baby. For us, I sometimes theorize that it has something to do with the stresses I experienced during pregnancy. I began the pregnancy with no health insurance, started two new jobs, lived with friends, bought a house...it all made me crazy (despite the baths, exercise, meditation) and I think sometimes he is anxious like I was.

I was so worried about this having to take care of my dying father the last 2 months of my pregnancy, being away from my family for 6 weeks due to a class and buying a home. It's been the opposite for me and I'm so glad for that. I hope you're not blaming yourself for your baby's temperament, so many Doctors I spoke to told me babies are resilient and she would be OK despite the soul crushing sadness and anxiety I went through. I'm sure it's just normal baby stuff.

muffyvonmuff · December 2013

I don't know if my labor was easy but in compassion to some of the traumatic ones I've read on here it was. I also don't know if he's the most un-fussy (not a word) but he isn't so bad either

huntjul · December 2013

I think there's some serious bias in this poll because its asking us to self-describe. Maybe the kind of person who is doom and gloom about their labor experience is more likely to also describe their child that way. The person who always sees the bright side will describe both as easy. I'm describing both mine as easy, but there were aspects of both that some would find tough.

Want a personalized experience?

fussiness/birth experience correlation?

fussiness/birth experience correlation? 227 votes

Re: fussiness/birth experience correlation?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards