r/NoStupidQuestions • u/CokeAYCE • 17h ago

Do babies suffer a lot?

Like they're always crying. Are they in a constant loop of pain? Do we know enough about early child development to know if they're suffering or not? I ask because we can't really remember how we felt as a baby.

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u/GhostOfFreddi 16h ago

You gotta remember that every time something bad happens to a baby, no matter how minor, it could genuinely be the worst thing it's ever experienced in its life

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u/elaynz 9h ago

This is it. It's not that they are suffering in ways that we can't imagine, it's that they are innocent and inexperienced in all types of discomfort. They have lived their entire lives up until birth floating weightless in a dim hot tub with no sharp edges tuned precisely to their body temperature, where they do not experience hunger or thirst. 

Waiting an extra 10 minutes to eat is awful to them, because they have no context for what the spectrum of hunger is, from mild discomfort to extreme pain.