Experts explain what we’re missing about ‘FOMO Baby’

Occasionally experiencing FOMO (fear of missing out) is basic human nature. In today’s social media-saturated world, it’s almost inevitable to feel that others are having the most fun when we’re not around.

But like other anxieties, does FOMO begin to set in at a certain age? Or more specifically, do babies have FOMO?

TikTok videos uploaded by user lifewithlivs_ show her newborn fraternal twins together in a variety of scenes, lying in bed, swaddled in a crib, riding in a stroller, and more. The irony of the video is that in every scene, the baby girl lies awake while her twin brother sleeps peacefully.

Viewers flooded the comments with hints that the wide-eyed newborn was experiencing her own case of… you guessed it… FOMO.

“I gave birth to a FOMO baby…she slept for no more than 45 minutes at a time until she was weaned at 16 months. I’m still catching up on sleep 7 years later,” one TikTok user commented.

“I also have a Fomo baby, and she still doesn’t like to sleep, and she’s 18 now!” she added.

Is “FOMO Baby” real?

While “FOMO baby” is not an official term or diagnosis used by medical experts, the behaviors exhibited by the newborns in the TikTok video are not unfamiliar to pediatricians and other experts who specialize in babies.

Macall Gordon, sleep trainer and author of forthcoming book Why don’t you sleep? Such newborns are described as “living threads.”

“When I hear parents say, ‘It seems like my kid has FOMO,’ it’s like a code to get into the ‘Wire’ parent club,” says Gordon, who has a master’s degree in applied psychology and research-based expertise. Baby mental health and sleep advice. “These kids come into this world and it’s like there’s more electricity flowing through their little nervous systems.”

She added: “They don’t really understand that they’re missing out, but they put so much energy into being awake and learning and observing.”

Gordon also explains how newborns come into the world to detect and process input. Some children are able to accept a controllable amount of input and can easily disengage from that input when necessary, acknowledging signals from their body that they need a break.

“These are kids who just fell asleep.”

However, other children seemed willing to accept a wider bandwidth of input, and they seemed eager to do so. As a result, they either miss the signals that their bodies need to rest, or those sleep signals simply aren’t that strong—so these babies just keep going.

“FOMO babies typically have a much thinner barrier to the outside world and want to stay awake and engaged,” Gordon points out.

Pediatric sleep expert Kelsey Alford, owner of Nested Sleep, offers a slightly different explanation, saying some babies may be born with less sleep to develop properly.

“Infants and people of all ages have different sleep needs and sensitivities to their surroundings,” Alford said.

Are parents of twins more likely to notice FOMO?

So while the concept of “FOMO babies” is certainly real (at least for some babies), experts say the condition isn’t unique to twins, or even more common.

“Some babies do seek more stimulation than others, and twins can differ greatly, as can any two siblings or even unrelated people,” says Alliston Pediatrics, M.D., a pediatrician at American Pediatrics. said doctor Andrew Elliston. “It doesn’t really have anything to do with twins.”

Victoria Regan, M.D., a pediatrician at Children’s Memorial Hermann Pediatric Center, agrees, noting that it’s normal for each twin to have his or her own sleep patterns, just as they have different personalities and respond to stimulation differently. Same reaction.

“However, if one twin is a light sleeper and the other is a deep sleeper, the light sleeper may wake up and have more difficulty falling asleep than the twin,” Regan explains.

Her advice to parents of twins, especially those who seem to have sleep problems, is to meet their needs individually. This might mean moving one twin’s crib away from the other, or taking the one who isn’t sleeping out of the room so they don’t wake the other.

Tips for dealing with your own “FOMO baby”

Unfortunately, the old adage “this too shall pass” may not always be true for babies who have FOMO, or what Gordon calls “a living thread.”

“These kids do change over time and the challenges do differ, but they don’t go away,” Gordon said. “That child doesn’t become a mature child over time… It’s like being right-handed or left-handed or having curly hair. It’s something you live with.”

Still, all hope is not lost. Gordon offers advice for parents of FOMO babies (twins or otherwise).

• Remember, every child requires a different approach. “Know that you have two different kids and they need two different approaches,” Gordon said. “What works for one person, doesn’t work for another.”
• Avoid comparisons. “I joke, stay away from Instagram pictures of your friends’ kids sleeping 10 hours a night,” Gordon said. “You have a different child and your experience is going to be different, and that’s okay.”
• Do (and repeat) what works for you. “For at least the first six months, do something that works to get them to sleep. If it works, do it. Whether it’s rocking them, holding them, or contact sleep—it’s all good.”