For a long time our culture has viewed babies in a limited way. Babies were seen as:
• Passive passengers in the womb and for some time after birth.
• Not possessing enough brain structure to express meaningful communication, learn, or maintain memories before they are able to speak.
• Unable to experience pain.
• Arriving as a “blank slate.”
These mistaken beliefs have made life difficult for babies. Now, however, new and exciting knowledge about infants is emerging. Discoveries made in the twentieth century in fields such as prenatal and perinatal psychology, embryology, neurobiology and attachment theory have changed our world view about babies and human development, and we are gaining a much deeper understanding of who babies really are and what they are capable of doing, feeling, knowing, and experiencing.
Our current understanding of babies, based on this new perspective, includes the following assumptions:
• Babies are sensitive and aware in the womb and beyond.
• The newborn arrives as a whole person on a lifelong continuum of development.
• Memory is being created through the emotions and the senses from the very beginning.
• Experiences before, during, and after birth have a direct effect on lifelong physical and psychological health.
• A baby’s earliest experiences and interactions with parents and caregivers influence how the brain and nervous system develop.

(an excerpt from the forthcoming “What Babies Want: Calming and Communicating With Your Baby” by Carrie Contey, PhD and Debby Takikawa, DC)