I enjoyed Kathy's post about the rights of infants and using the term needs to get a point across to the parents. This whole issue really pushes my button. We all agree that an infant has a right to have his needs attended to (semantics, semantics) but so often we hear this plea of "but then my baby won't become independent!" My definition of independence is teaching someone to care for themselves, WHEN THEY CLEARLY HAVE THE CAPABILITY TO DO SO. (caps for emphasis) A baby is a totally dependent creature. Infants do not have many capabilities to care for themselves. We have 20 years or so to teach them to do this, in the steps of normal human development. Why are we starting at 20 days?? I also feel that this is an issue of trust and often tell the parents this. How would you feel if you were in great discomfort and your caregiver said, "Well, I know that you are uncomfortable and that you are unable to give yourself this injection, but I am on my dinner break right now, and I am going to put you in this nice dark room by yourself for an hour or so and then I will come back and take care of your problem." Would you be forming a trusting and long-lasting relationship with this caregiver?? (actually i think that I might see a law suit in this scenario, if you live in America at least) So my imput here is : The baby is dependent, and he cannot get up and find food for himself. He must be able to trust his parents to do that for him/her in a timely manner. Then he will learn to trust them in many other ways as he grows up. Trust is such and intimate and caring thing. It is vital to all human relationships, and I think that parents can see this. After all, our job as parents is not just to feed our children physically, but emotionally as well. Merilee Reeder CLE