Question if babies know they should cry when lost

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FranzOren
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20 Jul 2022, 9:15 pm

Are most infants able to know that they are lost and cry for their parents? When I was a baby, psychologists did an evaluation, they tested if I would cry and my parents were gone, and I did not cry and they concluded that have a developmental delay.

My parents were not really gone though, it was just a test and they were in another room.



CockneyRebel
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20 Jul 2022, 10:33 pm

I'm pretty lost here, and I cry. :wink:


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20 Jul 2022, 10:37 pm

Yes. Babies will naturally cry if they believe they are lost. You probably didn't cry because you probably didn't think you were lost.


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HeroOfHyrule
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20 Jul 2022, 10:47 pm

I've seen people test that on allistic and autistic toddlers. Most (but not all) very small allistic children get separation anxiety if their caregivers leave them alone in an unfamiliar place, so they'll cry or seem visibly upset, but autistic children don't always react how allistic children do, so they might not cry or seem upset even if they do get anxiety, or may not get anxiety at all (which doesn't mean that they don't have an attachment to their caregivers, despite what people try to infer from that).

Even when I had an attachment to my sister as a toddler I don't think I cried that often, despite getting separation anxiety.



FranzOren
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20 Jul 2022, 11:17 pm

That makes sense.



Joe90
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21 Jul 2022, 4:33 am

I had separation anxiety as a baby. My mum said I would cry in my stroller if I was in a store and she went out of sight for a couple of seconds. Then I'd stop when I saw her.

I remember when I was 6 I got separated from my dad in an unfamiliar store, and I started sobbing. A kind woman asked me if I was OK and I said "I can't find my daddy." But then I saw him in an aisle and I said "oh, there he is" and I ran over to him.


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kraftiekortie
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21 Jul 2022, 4:40 am

Do you know, exactly, how old you were?



FranzOren
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21 Jul 2022, 7:42 am

I think a few months old, I don't remember.



kraftiekortie
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21 Jul 2022, 7:48 am

Babies don't tend to get "separation anxiety" until they reach about 6-7 months old.

If you were about 3 months old, and didn't get separation anxiety, that would be considered "normal."



FranzOren
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21 Jul 2022, 3:01 pm

It was not social anxiety, I just did not know how to appropriately bond with my parents on time.