ABSTRACT
Newborn babies are beautifully programmed to fit the parents' fantasies and to reward the work of pregnancy. During pregnancy, they have dreamed of a smiling baby who snuggles neatly into their arms. They need a responsive infant to fuel the work ahead. This chapter outlines the complex capacities that are available in the normal human newborn, ready to reward adults for appropriate responses. These capacities, programmed into the baby, match universal expectations in parents. Newborns' states of consciousness are responsive to mothers in similarly reinforcing ways. When they are crying, as their mother speaks to them, touches them, or holds their arms, they will quiet. Insecure new parents look for signals from their baby to reassure them that their caring attempts are on target. They need the baby's responses as a continuous confirmation of the appropriateness of their parenting.
