Can someone tell me how babies survived?

I’ve been a guardian angel to my baby girl for thirty-five days. Yes, she’s easily the most adorable creature I’ve ever seen. Yes, watching her whimper, squirm, and drowse is the best entertainment I could ask for. At the same time, when her tiny body snuggles into my arms, I get lost in thought and wonder how babies survived over the past hundreds of thousands of years.

Right now, my wife and I are both committed to taking care of our baby. We shouldn’t be that overwhelmed. We even have magical gadgets, like a diaper changing station and a steam sterilizer. We’re not hunting boars and picking berries for lunch. We order food and groceries on our phones. I can stay inside all day because everything gets delivered to the front door in a couple of days (sometimes as fast as twenty minutes).

Babies are biologically engineered to be helplessly dependent. I can only imagine how our ancestors raised their children. Babies wake up every hour or two, crying for help. When a mother tries to nurture her baby, the little one falls asleep while feeding as if she doesn’t need to eat. Hunger makes them wail, and eating makes them drowsy. What?

Most babies spit up thirty times a day, and our daughter is no exception. We hold her upright for at least 20 minutes after each feeding. She has to burp to stop spitting, but she can’t really burp without help. She can’t fall asleep by herself either because of the Moro reflex. The baby has to be swaddled to feel as safe as she did inside her mother’s womb. She doesn’t even know how to use enough strength to poop. She strains hundreds of times a day until her face turns explosively red. She writhes in pain because she doesn’t know how to manage her bowel movements. She kicks and flails her arms and legs while sleeping, only to throw up again.

She sleeps like an angel but suddenly bursts into crying. She was fed automatically inside the womb. For her in the cruel world, hunger must feel like a matter of life and death. Her head is too heavy. She can’t even support her neck. Her fragile body can’t risk falling out of her father’s arms, but she throws her arms and legs around like she could land like a gymnast.

What if I were left in a wild jungle with my baby? She’s skilled at sucking and crying. There’s no use for that. I would need a lot of help from a dedicated group of adults to safeguard my daughter. Maybe that’s why humans had to team up and build communities. Parents have always needed trustworthy babysitters.

Raising a baby is possibly the most arduous yet primitive job in modern society. No matter how much money or attention you pour in, babies grows at the same speed they did over thousands of years. All parents would agree: surviving as a baby is a miracle. We were all once babies, which means you’ve already made it. Grown-ups should celebrate that more often.