Temperament and the role it plays in how your baby sleeps!
Temperament is the way in which we approach and react to the environment around us. Learning about your child’s temperament can help you to better understand their behaviour and lead to more responsive care. It can take time to get to know their individual temperament, and how this influences the way they react to change or how they sleep.
An influential study carried out by Thomas and Chess in 1977 identified nine temperamental traits that can be commonly identified in children.
Activity level: Amount of physical movement
Biological rhythms: Regularity of eating, sleeping, elimination
Approach/withdrawal: Comfort in new situations
Mood: Amount of time in pleasant, cheerful mood as opposed to fussing, crying, or resisting others
Intensity of reaction: Energy level of emotional expressions
Sensitivity: Response to sensory information, including light, sounds, textures, smells, tastes
Adaptability: Ability to manage changes in routine or recover from being upset
Distractability: How easily the child’s attention is distracted
Persistence: How long a child will stay with a difficult activity before giving up
Children will show certain behaviours for each trait, some children may be extremely active and need to constantly be on the move, whereas others may observe environments and pause before engaging in activities.
These nine temperament traits were grouped together to form temperament types. There are three main temperament types; you may have heard them be referred to as easy-going, slow-to-warm, and highly sensitive/active.
What does this mean?
Easy-going children tend to have a positive mood and naturally have more regular feed and sleeping habits. They will adjust easily to new situations and environments. Most easy babies will nap well on the go and may respond relatively quickly to any sleep changes. They may not be so heavily impacted by developmental regressions or will go back to normal relatedly quickly.
Slow-to-warm children are more likely to be cautious in new environments and have lower activity levels, due to this they may find sleeping in unfamiliar spaces harder. They are generally observant, calm and may need extra time in adjusting to new situations, however they tend to have less intense reactions. When you make changes to their sleep habits, they may need extra time to adjust as they like to go at their own pace. For toddlers that are slow to warm, try to carefully talk them through any changes to their routine. Slow to warm children cope well with a consistent daytime and bedtime routine.
Children with sensitive temperaments