Three days before the competition, I was already concerned.

My daughter Sofia, 8 months, had a rash across her face and was determined to keep rubbing her eyes red and puffy. Sure, I was concerned about where the rash came from and how uncomfortable she was, but a tiny, nagging voice in my brain kept saying, “Will it clear up in time for the competition?”

You see, I had planned on entering Sofia in the “Most Beautiful Baby” competition that weekend, held by New Star Discovery. It’s a company that holds competitions in 35 states at regional and state levels, and holds a final national competition every year in Chicago, with the top prize being a $25,000 savings bond.

Although, I didn’t have too many concerns about Sofia — with or without a rash. I know she’s beautiful. But I was more concerned about the other mothers. Because every mother thinks her baby is the most beautiful baby.

So, when you get them all in the same room, what will happen? Will there be catfights?

And, ultimately, how can a parent know when a baby has that “it” factor sought out by talent scouts, agents and movie producers?

Defining beauty
The starting point, unfortunately, comes down to whatever God gave you. And yes, moms, all babies are cute. But some are cuter, at least according to research.

Diane Cook, a professor of psychology at Gainesville State College who specializes in human growth and development issues, said we apparently have been trained to be attracted to babies similar to the iconic Gerber baby — big eyes, round head and little baby fat rolls.

“It’s what we call evocative qualities, what evokes us to come to them and take care of them,” she said. “We like babies that aren’t too skinny; we like ’em kind of plump. ... You think of round head, round eyes, because they have proportionally larger heads than their bodies, sort of like a puppy does. They have proportionally much larger eyes than their face, so their eyes are really sticking out more than an adult.
“Larger heads, larger eyes, and typically we want a chunkier baby than a scrawny baby.”

These qualities draw our attention and make us want to smile, laugh, even talk to the baby. Which is good for the baby, she said, because they are constantly making connections in their brains to the world around them. The more interactions they have, the more practice they get in social skills.

“Those are the babies who are more likely a stranger will come up and say, ‘What a cute baby!’ and start a conversation with them,” Cooke said. “Even if we have a really great baby, great personality, but not as attractive, they’re not going to elicit that from adults.”

The result is a baby who is more comfortable around people and is more likely to return a friendly face with a smile.

“If people come up to me more, I get to practice more social skills. I get to converse more. I have more interaction. Same way with a baby,” she said.

This social interaction ends up working even better for babies who are accepted into the modeling world because not only do the babies need to fit a Gerber-like ideal, but they also have to have the personality to match. There are no crybabies in the modeling world, said photographer Nathan Yungerberg, of Nathan Yungerberg Photography in New York City.

“One of the things that one of the agents (from his client Product Model Management) brought up is definitely the baby has to be good tempered and have to be good around strangers,” he said. “For babies, it’s so clearly different because they don’t talk. And most babies are cute, so they have to have the right personality in order to move forward (in the modeling world).”

Linda Rutledge, founder of Babes n Beaus modeling agency in Marietta, echoed that sentiment. She said because “cute” is so subjective, it’s easier to work with even-tempered babies and let the client decide.

“We do a lot of baby modeling here, and basically temperment is just tenfold. We like the kids (who are) the happier, don’t-know-a-stranger type baby,” Rutledge said. “Of course, being cute, it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female. Primarily, personable, personable, personable baby.

“Of course, if you have those dimples — but it’s in the eye of the beholder.”

On the stage
At the New Star Discovery baby contest, Sofia entered categories such as “Prettiest Eyes” and “Nicest Smile.” And while the competition wasn’t too stiff — one other family showed up, with two kids in tow — Sofia did have another girl in her age division.

But competition isn’t necessarily the name of the game at this contest, said regional judge Eliott Longley.

He and his wife, Kim, have been judges for New Star Discovery for about three years, and he said they got into the competition for their own daughter, now 3.

“Our entire atmosphere is noncompetitive. Everyone claps for everyone,” he said. “It’s a fun, relaxed, let-the-kids-do-what-they-want-to-do environment.”

Their contest is judged 50 percent on personality and 50 percent on appearance, he said. There is no judging the outfits, nor do they allow makeup or hair extensions.

“There are other contests that judge how much your child is done up, but we just judge appearance and personality,” he said. “Personality can range from smiling, laughing, waving to blowing kisses. As they get older, boys can flex their muscles or give us thumbs up, and girls can do a twirl ... anything they want to do to show their personality.”

Four-year-old Iceley Self was one of the three contestants at the Gainesville baby contest. And while she danced, waved and blew kisses for the judges, her mother stood dutifully behind them, mirroring Iceley’s movements.

The routine, Amanda Self said, is one learned after going to other modeling contests at area malls and watching other winners. And Iceley already has 17 trophies at home from the contests.

“There’s a whole lot of people who do a variety of different things, and you just pick up on different things and you watch the kids to see if they get the award for personality, or they get this for this,” she said. “And you just kind of throw in together different things your child could do to perhaps enhance their entertainment factor, I guess.”

Iceley has already told her mother this is what she wants to do.

“If she likes to do it, if she wants to pursue it, I’m OK with that,” Self said. “But I’m not going to force it on her. She’s at an age now when she can understand what it’s all about.”

But Rutledge cautioned parents about spending lots of money on contests. While there is often prize money involved for winning at an upper level of competition, she said parents should weigh the admission costs with the benefits of winning.

Also, both Rutledge and Yungerberg said, reputable agencies will normally only require recent snapshots of a baby, rather than a full-blown professional portrait. Because babies change so quickly, many clients prefer a recent snapshot, Rutledge said.

“If you send in good snaps and the height and weight, a lot of us (agents) — not all — but I work off a good snapshot,” she said. “We personally have found my clients would much rather have a good snapshot that’s recent.”

She also said that she has never been to a baby contest.

“I have never scouted a baby contest before,” she said. “I do go to some scouting events (for older clients), but I don’t know how many rounds or how much this costs (parents), so it’s not absolutely necessary.”

The parent factor
The idea of your baby as a model can seem like something fun for some parents, and lucrative for others.

After all, that’s your baby in the magazine or in the television commercial. But there are very strict limits to how much babies and children can work, Yungerberg said. Many agencies are adept at identifying out “stage parents.”

“The good thing, is agents are really good at sniffing out stage parents from like a mile away. They can tell from the minute they walk in the door if its going to be a problem,” he said of over-involved parents.

“And the agencies don’t want to work with parents who are like that because everyone is concerned with the child’s well being.

“Every once in a while you run into parents who get through the agency process and they become overbearing and pushy. And it’s dangerous because its something that children should be doing if they want to.”

He added that parents also need to resolve their own issues with the modeling industry before getting their children involved.

“I’m getting ready to release this book this summer, and there’s one chapter where I had talked about parents who are looking to get started and the fact that they have to realize if they’re OK with the business, because there are so many parents who immediately think that it’s a horrible, evil industry and parents are forcing their kids to do these horrible things,” he added. “But from my perspective, the majority of the kids I work with on a daily basis are well adjusted and seem to enjoy what they’re doing.”
Self added that she also has her limits.

“I don’t want her to be a bikini, swimsuit model. Modest. Modest is good, because you’re much more mysterious when you leave something that someone has to imagine,” she said. “And I don’t want her to be plastered all over everything.”

So, is it worth it?
Psychology professor Cook said any modeling a baby might do will likely never even be remembered.
Because they have yet to develop language skills, babies, especially those under 1 year, simply can’t keep the events in their memory.

“If they are really younger than 2, they don’t tend to remember as well because they don’t have the language to associate that with memory,” she said. “For example, if a baby is modeling at 18 months old, they’re not likely to remember it if you ask them about it at 4.”

So, was Sofia beautiful enough to be a model? Well, since there were only three babies at the competition, it’s hard to say. She does have dimples and she does like to smile, but who knows what might happen if we showed up at an open casting call at an Atlanta-area modeling agency.

As we stood in front of the judges, Sofia happily chomped on the case that holds my digital recorder. I realized that if I pulled it out of her mouth — allowing her to show off her pretty smile for the judges — she’d probably scream like a banshee.

My mind raced. “What should I do? How can I make her smile?”

Suddenly, she lowered the case and shot a big, chubby-cheeked grin at the judges. They laughed. She went back to chomping.

Well, maybe there’s hope for a career in pictures after all.