Do you think babies born at home in a calm enviroment are more calm or less fussy?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Michael R. on November 7, 2009 at 6:50pm

Not necessarily. I think it's a personality thing. Both my sons were born at home and are completely different from each other.
My first was so easy and calm and quiet. My second was a hellion!! Lmao. And I'm the type of mom that responds to all of babies cues, I believe crying is the last cue they give when they need something.
My second, cried no matter what I did and he eventually grew out of it.

Permalink Reply by Pascale James on November 7, 2009 at 7:04pm

I could have write the same as Michael! My first, a girl, was born in a hospital and was really calm. My first son, born at home, was a screamer always cried a lot and was really hard to comfort. My 3rd son born at home is 3 months old and is super calm. I think it is more a personality thing,

Permalink Reply by Casondra on November 7, 2009 at 9:10pm

I don't think that it effects their fussiness either way...to a certain extent. I think that a baby born in a quieter environment might not make as much noise immediately after birth, because it is less traumatic...whereas a baby that is born with a lot of noise and lights and lifting, cleaning and poking will be more fussy right after birth.

Permalink Reply by Darcel on November 8, 2009 at 9:59am

I can say that babies born at home are a lot more alert . All of the ones I've seen have been.
I also think it's a personality thing. My 1st was born in the hospital and she was a fussy baby. She needed to be held all the time, and even slept directly on top of me. My 2nd was born at home and she wasn't fussy at first. She fell asleep on her own, but I started wearing her at 6 weeks, and I think that helped a lot. I wish I had known about all of the different carriers with my 1st.
Now my 2nd is a wild thing, it's her personality.

Homebirth is great though! This one will be my 2nd homebirth and I'm very excited about it.
No one to poke all over baby and you right after. You can snuggle right back in your own bed and relax.

Permalink Reply by Jenna Hull on November 8, 2009 at 1:42pm

My kids were pretty calm but the one thing I noticed like someone said, is how ALERT they were. So alert and looking around and seriously, smiling the day they were born (okay, not ear to ear, but they displayed happiness, I swear!).

Permalink Reply by Kaitlin Rose on November 8, 2009 at 3:29pm

My little one (Ella Rose, 9 months) was born at home and came out screaming. Good strong cry. But the rest of the day and the few weeks after she napped a lot. When she wasn't sleeping, she was VERY alert. Her big beautiful eyes were curious from day one.

I would agree with everyone here that it's a personality thing. What I just described is Ella. My second child (which will also be a home birth) may be very different.

I will say this: the experience of her birth, and my long labor prior to her birth, were very calm and serene (other than my grunting/vocalizations). Hospital births, with their lights, no matter how dimmed, and hospital staff grabbing the baby with quick and unfamiliar motions was a complete turn off for me.

My home birth had a calming affect on ME, and that was very important when it came to how I treated my daughter, and the energy in our home in the days after she was born. I was in my own environment. I was relaxed and at home (literally!). I attribute our immediate success breastfeeding and length of sleep to being at home.

Hope that helps! Go for the home birth!
Kaitlin

Permalink Reply by Erin Buxton on November 9, 2009 at 8:19am

I agree with the posts below. I loved being home and being relaxed. I felt like my birth was about me and my family, not hospital protocol. I saw videos of what they do once the baby is born - take the baby away to clean, put the goop in their eyes, give them shots, etc. that looked really stressful and it is done without the mother to comfort the baby. For us, we were able to forgo a bunch of that or wait and do some of that later. For anything that was done, either my husband or I had her in your arms.

It's a little randon, but I learned after about 2 months that my daughter hates hates hates car seats. We had a pediatrician that did home visits so we didn't have to leave the house. When we did put the baby in the car seat, she screamed bloody murder the whole time. Woudl not have been fun if that was on day 1 or 2 of her life.

I hope you are able to have the home birht you want!

Permalink Reply by EmilyK on November 9, 2009 at 10:10am

I really think it's a personality thing, not an environmental thing. I think that while having a home birth may make for a more serene, loving, peaceful environment for the baby, one in which parents can bond with their baby, I also know from personal experience that the baby itself may not be feeling serene loving and peaceful. My second son was posterior for a lot of the labor, though not for the delivery. He came out with a giant bruise on the top left of his head and it was obvious that he was sore all down through his neck. Basically, I felt he had been born with a kink in his neck. And it took a few days before he stopped screaming every time he got picked up, no matter how gentle we were with him.
I do think that home birth has the affect of not adding to the stress of baby having, and lets every one transition to this new world with the least amount of extra factors.