>"It occurred to me that from an adaptive perspective it made no 
>sense for babies to have "high-need" personalities."
>
>Actually there is some evidence from the developing world that high 
>need or demanding babies are more likely to survive than their more 
>placid counterparts in situations when their families find 
>themselves in stressful situations like conflict, famine, natural 
>disaster.  I'll try to find the reference.
>Cheers

>Nina Berry
>Australia



Yes - I am puzzled by Jennifer thinking there is no 'adaptive value' 
in exhibiting 'high needs'.  Would be interested in your reference, 
Nina.

What we know for sure is that babies do not behave 'randomly'. 
Healthy babies are always, always, communicating their needs to us in 
some way, trying to tell us something that will help us help them.  I 
am certain that many of us here find that breastfeeding support is 
focussed on enabling mothers to 'translate' their babies' requests, 
which can be seriously counter-cultural in societies that believe the 
only 'happy' baby is one that feeds in 20 minutes and who sleeps in a 
crib between times.

While a baby who screams a lot of the time (like Jennifer describes 
her first baby) deserves some careful investigation, if a baby is 
mostly happy when co-sleeping.  held closely, fed responsively, 
handled sensitively...well, is that 'high needs'? Or just normal? 
When babies don't get these needs met (and most will not), many will 
adapt and 'make do' with what they do get and seem 'happy enough'. 
Maybe the 'high needs' babies are the ones who decide not to settle 
for less than what they really need - and there could easily be an 
adaptive value in that :)

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc, tutor, UK

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