17 July, 2000
BABIES as young as four months get jealous if their
mothers show love and affection to other infants, a recent study
reports.
The study, carried out by researchers at the University of Surrey,
examined the emotional development of babies during their first year.
Dr Draghi-Lorenz, who led the study, said: “Video recordings
of babies showed that soon after they can control their bodies they
may, for example, squeeze in between the mother and another person,
pushing away and sometimes even hitting the latter.”
Although most parents in the study reported observing the first
clear instances of jealousy in their babies at around seven to eight
months, a few parents said their babies had demonstrated jealousy as
early as four months.
In order to test the parents’ reports, Dr Draghi-Lorenz asked
mothers of five-month-olds to show physical affection to another baby.
He said: “This was usually watched intently by their own baby.
Within five minutes more than half of their babies were so upset that
they cried.
“This did not happen when the mother simply spent five minutes
chatting to another adult.”
Jealous baby? Share your experiences on our Development
and Behaviour discussion board or talk about your bouncing baby on
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Talk.
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