'Very young infants are incapable of "manipulation". You have to have a sense of self before you seperate your"self" from the entity that is your caretaker. Until a child figures this out, all crying is need based only.'

Oh boy, you should have been around when my God-daughter was born... she learned from about 4 months how to get attention. She learned very early what buttons to press to get her way, and who she could do it with. She wasn't even 9 months old when she learned to vomit at will to manipulate her carers..... I love her dearly and had many hours of joy minding her from 3 months to 2 years, but she was a manipulative child from day 1. Her tactics didn't work with everyone though and she only did it to me once. When the attention she got wasn't what she expected (I left her to sit whilst I cleaned up the chair, floor, table and me first), she never did it again. It became such a habit with others though, that now she can't break it, and will still puke at will when she doesn't get her own way. And yes, they did all the tests to see if it was a food allergy, automatic reaction, reflex action or whatever.... it was pure will that did it. Having said that, she can be the most adorable child on earth, and there are times I'd swap her for Phoebe..... the story is reversed here, as is frequently the case. She's good as gold for the various sorts of minders and hell on earth with her parents.

LTS