During their baby's one-week checkup, I asked first-time parents Ellen and Brian* what they wished for their child. They replied, "We want her to be self-confident." It's hard to think of a newborn as being "confident," but Ellen and Brian had the right idea.

Confidence requires that you believe in your own abilities. And while it may seem that tiny babies have no abilities at all  -- they can't feed themselves, get around, or talk  -- newborns actually possess tremendous power, evident already at birth. The wide-open gaze of a quietly alert infant, only minutes old, mesmerizes her mom and dad. Held skin-to-skin with her mother, the newly born baby turns her head from side to side, squirming and opening her mouth as she actively seeks the breast for the food and comfort she needs. Her cries make things happen as new parents run to reassure their little one.

These amazing newborn abilities are the bedrock on which parents can begin to build their baby's confidence. Here's how you can be a confidence-booster  -- and not a confidence-buster  -- for your growing infant.

  *Some names have been changed.

---