'Super nanny' rubbishes findings

Last updated 23:01 07/07/2008

Don Scott

NANNY KNOWS BEST: Clare Halliburton, with her seven-month-old granddaughter Audrey Gibbons, says most fussy infants grow out of it.

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Babies who are fussy about what they eat and when they sleep are more likely to grow up to be liars and bullies, a new international study shows.

But New Zealand's version of the Super Nanny, Cantabrian Clare Halliburton, says the study is "rubbish" as most fussy infants turn out to be lovely, well-adjusted teens.

Halligan is a former Karitane nurse of more than 20 years experience who runs a thriving international correspondence school training nannies in England, America, Canada and Asia. She also provides "baby boot camps" for Christchurch parents struggling to understand their baby's behaviour.

Her dismissive comments relate to a study published recently in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, and based on a Chicago University study tracking nearly 2000 children from birth to age 13.

The study's authors argue that children's behaviour as moody, difficult children followed them through to their teens.

Fussy babies were more likely to grow into tiny tyrants who ruled the roost at home and were often in trouble at school, the study said.

The study defined fussy babies as those who refused, or took a long time to feed, were hungry or tired at different times each day, were constantly demanding attention or would not sleep in the evenings and through the night.

Some American child behaviour experts have suggested this research supports the case for strict regimes for children where fussiness is not tolerated.

Halliburton disagrees.

She said babies younger than a year old were not mature enough to be intentionally fussy and parents needed to work around their baby's natural routine.

"If they are pushing food away it's not because they are difficult or will turn out to be bad children, it's just that they don't want it."

It was impossible to apply strict routines to children under six months old because they simply did not understand them.

"For example, when they don't want to eat, sometimes it's a physical rather than a behavioural thing. Solid food sometimes makes them gag when it touches the back of their throat when they first start eating or they don't like the texture. They aren't being fussy as we adults understand it."

Halliburton said there were a lot of factors which shaped a baby's personality, not the least parenting.

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"We are all a product of our environment. Behavioural problems, I believe, are mostly about poor parenting throughout the child's life rather than a fussy child."

- © Fairfax NZ News