As many mums will know, there’s nothing quite like gazing into your newborn baby’s eyes.
But scientists have now revealed that this could be a lot more than a simple bonding exercise between mother and child.
In fact, the length of your baby’s gaze could give you a clue as to whether they will suffer behavioural problems when they grow up.
Scientists in Monfalcone, North Italy, studied the visual attention of 180 newborn babies - and then followed up their study when the babies were older.
They found that babies who spent longer looking at each individual object as a newborn were less likely to suffer from behaviour problems and fewer impulsive and overactive behaviours in middle childhood.
Babies who only gazed at objects for a short amount of time, however, were more likely to have behavioural problems aged three to 10 years old.
Dr Angelica Ronald, from Birkbeck University of London, explained: "We've found for the first time that there's a significant link between the way in which newborn babies look at images and their later temperament and behaviours in childhood, such as hyperactivity.
She said because the observations were made in babies that had only just been born, ‘the influences that made these newborns differ between each other in their visual attention style are likely to be present at birth'.
Dr Ronald continued: “This rules out the environment after birth, and leaves either genetic predispositions or influences from the environment the baby experiences in the womb,' Dr Ronald said.
“Spending relatively longer looking at each individual stimulus as a newborn was associated with having fewer behaviour problems and fewer impulsive and overactive behaviours in middle childhood.”
You can read the full study in Scientific Reports now.