Caveat: You may not want to read this if you are mother feeling vulnerable. Although there is scientific and evolutionary evidence for the information, the content is not medical advice--see your medical professional for that.

Human baby helplessness increased over the course of human evolution as humans shifted to bipedal walking. So much so that humans are born 18 months early compared to other primates. It’s really important to get straight on what babies need before having one.

For some reason, U.S. society seems to have forgotten what babies need to grow good bodies, brains and minds. We need to get our minds around the needs of babies. Here is a short list of those needs.

Relaxation during /gestation. Fetuses are sensitive to their mother’s moods and experiences. For example, if mother gets hyperstressed, so does the baby, and this can have longterm effects on the child’s reactivity and (irritability) after birth. So moms need lots of positive social support and to find ways to laugh and feel relaxed during pregnancy. Otherwise children can have longterm health problems.

Childbirth should be as naturalistic as possible. Moms are not machines and babies are not products. Child birth is a process. Each birth is unique with its own timing and pace as the relationship between mom and baby shifts from body-in-body to body-on-body. Moms need the chance to be in charge of the event, trusting their body signals and not treated like they have to be rescued from themselves. A mother from Israel told me recently that hospital policy there is not to interfere for at least a day or longer after a woman’s water breaks. This woman had two births without drugs that she said were ecstatic. She said she would like to get pregnant again just for the birthing experience. How many women in American hospitals ever say that? See here for videos of ecstatic birthing.

Frequent feeding. As Gena Kirby pointed out on her Progressive Parenting TV segment, Lactation Nation, babies have tiny stomachs. They need to eat frequently. If they don’t, they hurt, like we do when our stomachs are empty. Only babies are growing so fast that limiting food intake is like undermining brain and body development. Of course the food that gives babies what they need is breastmilk. In my view, formula is a form of starvation diet since it gives them hardly anything they need to build a strong body, brain and mind. The complexities of all the wonders of breastmilk are hardly known, which embarrasses some chemical scientists. See more about breastmilk and formula HERE.

Constant companionship. Babies are not plants. They are social creatures. Infants are born expecting constant compassionate, responsive care, constant physical companionship and interpersonal communication. They are not going to grow optimally when they are isolated in a carrier, a crib or playpen. Their social brain development will suffer and so will their health and . Sure they need sleep but it should be social sleep (on or next to someone). Colwyn Trevarthen has suggested that care is not all babies need (Bowlby, 1981). They also need intellectual companionship, playful interactive communication that occurs from birth (under natural conditions).



Immersion in everyday life. Everyday life should not be a power struggle between and baby. The relationship ideally is mutually responsive. The baby indicates a need (hopefully the caregiver picks up the signal before the baby starts crying from pain) and it should be met quickly and well by the caregiver. But the rest of the time the baby should be part of family life, being carried and held by whomever is around. Babies expect to be moving in arms (see The Continuum Concept for descriptions of a culture where babies are part of the community).

24-hour responsive care needs more than 2 people. Don’t expect to be able to take care of a baby well by yourself or even with a partner. You need much more help than that! Babies need care 24 hours and two people cannot provide it, especially if one is working. A Chinese colleague who just had a baby has a great set up. Her parents came from China to stay for 6 months. Her father does all the cooking and her mother helps with the baby while mom stays home with the baby.

“But these recommendations seem impossible to carry out.”

A big part of the problem is that we have been taught that carry the day, that child personality and health is due mostly to genetic factors. Not true. Most of who a child becomes is dependent on experiences in the womb and in early life when all sorts of interactive processes occur, including the turning on and off of genes.

Adults today are also handicapped by the childrearing culture of their own childhoods that taught them that enjoying intimate relationships with others is less valuable than working dutifully or building a list of personal accomplishments. So, neglecting baby needs seems normal, good and right. And we don’t have much for babies because when we were young there was little empathy for us. And, since we rarely practiced, we are losing our skills for intimate social relationships. So it all looks hard, doesn’t it?

Enjoying childrearing is our evolved heritage. Looking to our hunter-gatherer cousins, we can see that they meet all these needs of young children with relish (see Hewlett & Lamb's Hunter-Gatherer Childhoods. They enjoy it! With needs met from the beginning, their children are reportedly very .

If you can’t provide these things for a baby, you should think about getting a dog instead. But of course, dogs are mammals like us, and also become when they don’t get their needs met. Dogs and children are alike this way. If a dog’s or child’s needs have been neglected early on and they develop irritable personalities as a result, no one will want to be around them. So maybe a pet fish?

"But we live in the modern world. How can we accomplish these things?"

Yes, modern life is contrary to the needs of babies, children and families. But who decided we had to live this way—rushing around to make money to look cool and to appear valuable? People can and do change their cultures (see Norway). We could change our culture too. We could get off the crazy-go-round and do what’s really important: taking care of children properly so that they actually develop pleasant personalities, high intelligence and good health. Then they would have the capacities to be better citizens and community members than we adults are today, and have a better chance of leading us through the challenges humanity faces.

NEW BOOK: To read more about the importance of early experience for optimal development, see the forthcoming book, Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality: Evolution, Culture and .

OTHER POSTS ON ISSUES :

BIRTH

New Moms Need Social Support

Painkillers for Childbirth? The Few Pros and Many Cons

What's the Use of Midwives and Doulas?

Jesus Had a Home Birth

What if Jesus Had Been Born in the USA?

CIRCUMCISION

Why Continue to Harm Boys from Ignorance of Male Anatomy?

What Is the Greatest Danger for an Uncircumcised Boy?

Circumcision Ethics and Economics

Circumcision: Social, Sexual, Psychological Realities

More Circumcision Myths You May Believe: Hygiene and STDs

Myths about Circumcision You Likely Believe

BREASTFEEDING

Stand Up For Breastfeeding

Talk About Breastfeeding With Your Family, Friends and Doctor

Breastmilk Wipes Out Formula: Responses to Critical Comments

In Light of Last Week's Posts: Is Pushing* Formula Evil?

Breastfeeding Resources

The REAL Truth about Breastfeeding

5 Things You Thought You Knew about Breastfeeding

The TREMENDOUS Benefits of Doing What is Normal: Breastfeeding

Myths you probably believe about infant formula

Your assumptions about infant formula are probably wrong

It’s Breastfeeding Week: Why should you care?

SLEEP

1. Baby Sleep Training: Mistakes "Experts" and Parents Make

2. Letting Crying Babes Lie? So Wrong

3. Simple ways to calm a crying baby

4. Normal, Human Infant Sleep: PART 1, PART 2, PART 3, PART 4, PART 5

5. Understanding and Helping Toddler Sleep: PART 1, PART 2, PART 3

PARENTING: GENERAL

What Happened to Ethics in Pediatric Medicine?

Baby-, Parent- or Life-Centered Parenting?

Ten Ways to Truly Respect Motherhood

Slings and Heroes

Parents Should Know the Limitations of Science Experiments

Babies "don’t cry in Africa," why should they cry in the USA?

Blame the baby or blame the experts?

Dumb Parent(ing), Dumberer Child

How to Grow a Smart Baby

Are you treating your child like a prisoner?

Undercare: The bane of American life?

Promoting Thriving in School-Aged Children: A Checklist

Is it good to make kids afraid?

How NOT to Ruin a Child

Are you or your child on a (touch) starvation diet?

Mother’s touch of dead baby causes “miracle”

What Does Good Parenting Look Like? You Decide.

CHILDREN’S RIGHTS

Childism Revisited

Are You a “Childist?" Test Yourself

Babies Are Needy—Does That Bug You?

Do We Need Declaration for the Rights of the Baby?

Where Are the Happy Babies?

The Decline of Children and the Moral Sense

Believing "children are resilient" may be a fantasy

How America Morally Fails its Children: What Needs to Change

Increase the well-being of children around you