How To Know Your Baby's Body Type & Constitution

Do you know your baby's body type?

Understanding your child's natural constitution is an essential step in truly knowing them and providing personalized care, knowing exactly what they need to thrive.

It offers insight into digestion, sleep, and protecting your child from illness, while also helping you tune into your child's emotional tendencies. This deepens your bond with your child

Understanding your child's body type helps you make informed choices about individual diet, daily routines, and parenting strategies, helping your child thrive physically and feel supported, loved, and confident in who they are.

Knowing your baby's constitution is one of the greatest gifts you can give them.

Ayurveda & The Family: Tips for Balance

As a parent, you don't need to guess. Constitutional medicine gives you the practical tools every household needs to help your family thrive. By knowing how to match foods well to your baby's constitution, you ensure balanced, healthy formation of tissues that will serve your baby lifelong.

Healthy food is not one size fits all. The food that strengthens one child weakens another—its important to know which for yours. This helps you minimize or prevent childhood sickness now, and to avoid planting the seeds of chronic disease later.

Understanding constitution empowers you to become the expert your household relies on. With this knowledge, you can support your own family and even guide others in your community toward greater health.

Here are some common signs of not understanding your baby's constitution: frequent crying, colic, low immunity, poor digestion, and irregular sleep patterns. These all point to a diet or lifestyle mismatch.

Challenges to Knowing Your Baby's Body Type

In the first week or two after birth, your baby will naturally exhibit some Melancholic / Vata tendencies as he/she adjusts to life outside the womb. For example, your baby may look wrinkly, with an irregular head shape from labor and delivery. Her skin may be flaky and sleep irregular.

After the postpartum period, until your baby is 3 or four years old, her natural baby fat may give the false appearance of a Kapha Dosha or Phlegmatic constitution. It is the Kapha time of life for your baby, which can mask her underlying constitution.

By accounting for these tendencies, you can tune into your baby's constitution right away. But if you are still unsure, it's time to go deeper.

The best person to figure out your baby's constitution is you. A practitioner can be a helpful guide, but it's essential you study constitutional medicine, so you will always be in tune with your children as they grow.

Four Babies & Their Constitution

Let's look at some examples, then build a chart for a brief analysis.

Example 1: Francesca

Francesca was long limbed and dainty - her height in the 95th percentile but her weight only in the 35% percentile. From the start she was curious, preferring to look around her rather than cuddle. She preferred facing out while sitting in the baby carrier, and was interactive and playful with everyone she met. She loved making interesting sounds as she explored her voice. Her skin tended to be thin and dry, and her appetite small. She was easily startled by sudden noises. These are all signs of a melancholic or Vata constitution.

Note: Melancholic, in later years, becomes more pensive and serious due to coldness and dryness. In youth, however, Melancholics have adequate heat, and are playful and creative.

Example 2: Carmela

Carmela's was born with bright, sharp and joyful eyes. Like Francesca, she preferred looking outward in the baby carrier, preferring exploration to cuddles. Her skin was warm, and thin. When sick, she ran a high fever but recovered quickly. She was average in height and weight. She was smart and joyful, but cautious and graceful in her actions, a sign of a Choleric or Pitta-Vata constitution.

Example 3: John

John was born with large meaty hands like a puppy dog with large paws. John had a broad back with clear muscle definition and sturdy bones. His height and weight were both in the 90th percentile. His cheeks were full, reddish and warm. Generally John was cuddly but expressed his wishes with gusto. From the start he was competitive for mom's attention. When irritated his anger, and crying, were forceful. His sturdy bones, strong muscle, warmth, and forcefulness were clear signs of a Sanguine, or Pitta-Kapha constitution.

Example 4: Henry

Henry was born with large, affectionate eyes, soft, rounded features, and full cheeks. His skin was thick, pale and cool. His bones were sturdy, yet his muscles lacked John's tone. He was a deep feeler but not forceful, all classic signs of a Phlegmatic or Kapha constitution.

Constitutional Chart for Babies

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