Babies in the Workplace

cultures, the "normal" crying of American babies is unheard-of.

Not only is it physically and emotionally healthy for babies to be held and frequently touched and caressed; babies' strong desire to be frequently held makes sense in another way as well. Scientific studies of babies make clear that babies are far more intelligent and aware of their world than previously believed--they want to be involved in the world so they can learn as much as possible as quickly as possible. The book The Scientist in the Crib goes into fascinating detail on babies' incredible ability to learn and pick up on social cues.
Think about the perspective babies have who are being held by an adult. They are close to eye-level with other people and see everything that is going on around them. They are able to see other people's faces and watch and learn from the interactions between people. They have

people engaging them more frequently because they are easy for others to notice. Their world is varied and constantly interesting. Babies want interaction with other humans so that they can learn how to interact. We understand that children and adults enjoy communicating and being with each other--why would we think babies would be any different?

My own youngest daughter, Echo, illustrated to me how deeply babies crave new information--sometimes even more than basic survival needs. When she was three weeks old, I drove eight hours with her and her older sister. I stopped periodically to nurse Echo but, aside from those brief stops, I drove pretty much non-stop. Echo was too young to hold or really notice small objects, and so the only things she had to look at were her sister and the back of her rear-facing car seat.