Babyhood is the time of life when you are a baby, from birth until you are not quite a baby any more — roughly the first year or two. The word names the period, not the child. You will find it in slightly careful writing: in babyhood, memories of babyhood, the sleep of babyhood. In ordinary talk, people usually say when I was a baby instead. It is a calm, bookish cousin of childhood, not a word that carries blame or praise. Though actually the edge is not sharp: some writers end babyhood at the first birthday; others let it run until walking and talking have begun.

嬰兒期