Pikler's solution was for infants to play without adult help. This led her to come up with a concept of parenting still being taught worldwide today, 14 years after her death. From infancy, babies at her National Methodological Institute for Infant Care and Education, known as Loczy, are taught to participate in their own dressing, feeding and bathing. On the other hand, many skills taught elsewhere are specifically not taught there, most importantly, babies are never put into a position which they couldn't get into themselves. For example, they are not propped up to sit or their hands held to be walked.

"As a matter of principle, we refrain from teaching skills and activities which under suitable conditions will evolve through the child's own initiative and independent activity," Pikler wrote in her 1940 book What Can Your Baby Do Already? published in Hungary. The book is also translated into German, and partially translated into English in the Sensory Awareness Foundations' Winter 1994 Bulletin.

She adds, "While learning...to turn on the belly, to roll, creep, sit, stand and walk, (the baby) is not only learning those movements but also how to learn. He learns to do something on his own, to be interested, to try out, to experiment. He learns to overcome difficulties. He comes to know the joy and satisfaction which is derived from this success, the result of his patience and persistence."

In short, Pikler had a revolutionary idea that babies -- even newborns -- are competent individuals with their own agendas, and should be treated with respect.

Such respect can go a long way. A 1972 World Health Organization study revealed that babies raised without parents at Pikler's institute scored just as high as babies reared at home on scales of social, employment and emotional adjustment.

If the Pikler method gave such a boost to orphaned babies, it stands to reason it would be a great boon to babies raised at home by loving parents. One of Pikler's proteges, Hungarian-born Magda Gerber, has transformed Pikler's work and made it accessible to parents. Her Resources for Infant Educators (RIE) based in Los Angeles, California, offers parents and teachers classes based on the Pikler method.

The basis for putting any of Pikler/Gerber's ideas into action is a warm, loving relationship between parent, or other primary caretaker, and child. Since babies experience our love during times we spend caring for them, Gerber suggests that parents take the time to make diapering, feeding, bathing and dressing, unhurried and pleasant quality time with the baby being an active partner. With their built-in "curriculum," babies, given security and freedom, will then spend their time learning just what they need to be learning at any given stage.

"When you approach your baby with an attitude of respect, you tell him what you intend to do and give him a chance to respond," says Gerber. "You assume he is competent and involve him in his care and let him, as much as possible, solve his own problems. You give him plenty of physical freedom and you don't push development."

She adds, "Parents believe they treat their babies with respect. But if you watch well-meaning, loving adults, you'll see that they will often interrupt their baby's play without a thought and treat her in other ways that could hardly be called respectful. "

Recognizing and respecting our babies' competence also frees parents. Gerber firmly believes that parents don't need to entertain their babies because given a nurturing environment and freedom to explore, babies are quite capable of entertaining themselves. Just consider Sean, a 10-month old participant at RIE with his mother, Janey.

As Janey and the other mothers and fathers sit cross-legged leaning against the walls of the large room, Sean and six other babies around his age and stage of development play on the carpeted floor. Sean and his friends explore: some rolling around with an empty plastic soda bottle or a small ball in their hands; some lying on their backs playing with their toes; some sitting up and mouthing a teething ring. A few are already creeping around the room. One girl is getting a lot of pleasure out of repeatedly crawling up and down the three steps of a wooden climbing structure. The parents look like they're just sitting, but they are actually practicing the art of observation.

Suddenly, Sean begins to whimper. He has crawled into the tight space under the climbing structure and can't get out. Janey has been at RIE long enough to check her impulse to go and rescue him. Instead, she goes over to Sean and gets down on all fours so that her face is right near her baby's. "I can see you're stuck and you're trying to figure out how to get out," she says. She stays close by and after a few more tries accompanied by whimpers, Sean manages to crawl to freedom. He sits back on his left leg, looks at his mother and beams.

What does this all mean for you and your baby? When you want to change a diaper, dress or feed, look first to see what baby is doing. If baby is absorbed in an activity and you have the time, try not to interrupt. Look for the right moment to move in. Say something like, "I want to change your diaper now," and reach out your arms. Wait for a response. Your baby may look up at you or reach out with arms. If your request is ignored, and you have time, you can say something like, "I see you still want to play," and wait a couple of minutes before trying again. If you don't have time, you can still acknowledge that baby would rather play but say that you need to change the diaper now, and start doing that. Even if your baby is too young to understand your words, your tone will be associated with your gestures.

Once on the changing table, don't distract baby with a rattle. Instead, try to maintain eye contact and explain, step-by-step, what you are doing and ask for help: "I'm putting you down on the table. Now I'm going to take off your pants -- can you pull your foot out? Thank you." Or, "I'm going to take off your wet diaper now. Please lift your hips up."

After years of patient struggle, the RIE approach is now receiving recognition in the United States. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and Zero to Three, the National Center for Clinical Infant Programs, have recently incorporated basic RIE ideas into their recommendations for infant care.

"Gerber's emphasis on the need to understand and get to know babies as people has been very influential in our writings about infant care and the way people actually care for infants in the U.S.," says Sue Bredekamp, Director of Professional Development for NAEYC. "We agree with her on the importance of paying attention to a baby's cues and messages, rather than coming in with our own agendas. For example, Gerber believes that when a baby cries, instead of the adult deciding what's wrong and responding instantly, she should wait a moment to see what the baby does. Does he self-comfort? Does he find a solution? These are excellent guidelines for parents."

After much discussion, NAEYC will most likely include a surprising recommendation of Gerber's in their new guidelines: that babies should not be encouraged to look into mirrors until they are of walking age. "Babies are fascinated with faces," Bredekamp says. "They see their image in a mirror and reach out to touch the face and instead, touch something that's cold and hard. Gerber believes that's confusing."

Part of the reason that various national guidelines are now reflecting RIE ideas is the fact that "research is catching up with Gerber," according to Peter Mangione, co-creator of the Program for Infant-Toddler Caregivers, a collaborative project of WestEd/Far West Laboratory and the California Department of Education, Child Development Division.

"For years, people in the field were pushing face-to-face interaction with infants," said Mangione. "Gerber was in favor of slowing this down and giving a baby more space. Over time, people doing the research started to bear her out. They realized that the important thing was giving the child control of the interaction rather than lots of stimulation. Researchers started to notice babies' self-regulatory activities and to give them more weight."

The once widely accepted notion that parents should stimulate and teach their babies, a practice that Gerber disputes, has also been called into question by recent research. "Twenty years ago, if you went to a session on infant cognition, you'd see a lot of emphasis on the importance of adults stimulating infants," Mangione says. "Now, the emphasis is on what infants do and on the partnership between infants and adults. This is something Gerber stressed for years."