World leading infant development researchers have questioned whether babies have feelings

In the European summer of 2011, at an International Infant Cry Research Workshop which I attended in The Netherlands, two world-renowned professors took questions from the floor.

“Do babies in the first 3-4 months of life have feelings?” a delegate asked.

The men glanced at each other. “We don’t know,” they replied, cautiously. “We simply don’t know. Most likely not, at that age.” In the first 3-4 months of life, these professors claimed, some infants have a more difficult temperament than others, but hours of crying each day is normal.

If there is one thing I know (and a few others in the room that day…