In what is a surprising finding, a new study on babies shows that those cute and cuddly bundles of joy, exhibit signs of jealousy even as young as three months old.

Prof. Maria Legerstee, Department of Psychology, York University and her team studied 50-babies aged 3-months and 6-months with their mothers on hand. They found interacting with the babies that if the babies were not responded to, they looked sad and looked away. However, when she took a drink and didn’t engage with them, they didn’t seem to mind, indicating that even babies can sense the reason behind uncommunicative behaviour.

As well, a stranger interacting with their mother, without her active participation was taken in good stride by the babies. However, if the mother engaged in an animated dialogue with the stranger, laughing, talking, the babies tended to get very upset, reacting strongly as they vocalized with intense anger. To sum it up succinctly, when the mother’s attention turned away from them, they kicked and hollered trying to get it focused on them again.

According to Legerstee, ‘jealousy is the fear of losing a beloved to someone else’, and researching infants has shown young babies know the difference between themselves and others. Babies tend to form social attachment with their mothers or primary caregivers, preconditions for babies to feel jealous. While, reactions are stronger in six month old than three month old babies, they are there nonetheless, and the mothers are aware of them.

And, what is a parent to do, if baby seems jealous? Why, simply interrupt your conversation and switch your attention back to baby to put the green-eyed monster to bed.

Prof. Legerstee’s book entitled ‘Handbook of Jealousy: Theories, Principles and Multidisciplinary Approaches’, due out end 2009 will include the study.