Great Expectations: Honoring the Needs of Our Babies

Expectations—we all have them, and in fact, we’re born with them.

As Jean Liedloff explains in her influential book, The Continuum Concept, infants come into the world with deep-seated needs and expectations. When these needs are met, babies have the chance to develop optimally, both physically and emotionally. These expectations stem from millions of years of human evolution. Yet, despite our growing understanding of what babies truly need, modern society often discourages us from fulfilling them. Let’s explore some of the innate expectations that infants are born with and how society’s views have shifted away from these natural instincts.