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This article is about the very young child. Baby and Newborn redirect here. An infant (from the Latin word infants, meaning “unable to speak” or “speechless”) is the very young offspring of a human. When applied to humans, the term is usually considered synonymous with baby or brain, but the latter is commonly applied to the young of any animal. When a human child learns to walk, the term toddler may be used instead. The term infant is typically applied to young children between the ages of 1 month and 12 months; however, definitions may vary between birth and 2 years of age. A newborn is an infant who is only hours, days, or up to a few weeks old. In medical contexts, newborn or neonate refers to an infant in the first 28 days after birth; the term applies to premature infants, and full term infants. Before birth, the term fetus is used.

Studies have shown that infants who have been the recipients of positive touch experience more benefits as they develop emotionally and socially. Experiments have done with infants up to four months of age using both positive touch (stroking or cuddling) and negative touch (poking, pinching or tickling). The infants who received the positive touch cried less often and also vocalized and smiled more than the infants who were touched negatively. Infants who were the recipients of negative touching have been linked with emotional and behavioral problems later in life. A lower amount of physical violence in adults has been discovered in culture with greater levels of positive physical touching.

Human infants have a primal need to be carried close to their mother’s body. They need constant physical contact for their first few weeks or months of life. They are born with reflexes that aid them in holding onto their mother’s body in every way possible, these being the Moro reflex, and the instinctive grasping of a finger or object placed in their palm. Their legs usually resume an M shape, their knees being the top peaks of the M, which is the ideal position both for optimal hip development, and makes it comfortable for an adult to carry them laid on their chest. They also need frequent care, given that they need to eat and eliminate waste more often than other mammalian offspring that are cared for in nests where they could endanger themselves by crying with hunger and the smell of excrement.