You may have heard of the 4th trimester? And the fact that new babies don’t like to be put down? But why does it happen? Well from an evolutionary point of view, babies are still in the “cave man” period. A new baby does not realise it is born into the relative safety of the 21st century with video monitors, central heating and a lack of predators. To a baby being put down is a life and death situation. A human baby is very helpless, unlike many other mammals, and so relies completely on its mother for food, warmth, safety, security and love. The chest is it’s safe place where all of these are freely available. If it is left alone it thinks it will either get eaten by something, starve, become cold and uncomfortable! So when a baby realises it’s on its own, it cries in order to tell it’s mother to pick it up. It’s a warning sign. It’s saying “I’m here on my own and I’m in danger”.
Once babies get to around 3 months of age they start to realise that they’re not going to be eaten by a wolf, that their house is safe and warm and that they get fed regularly. At this stage they are more likely to tolerate being put down somewhere for a short time as long as they can see someone familiar nearby.
Then once they begin to explore the world they get a little braver. However, they like to make sure there is someone familiar around to make sure they’re still safe.