infantiles

Infantiles is an adjective used in English to describe things relating to infancy or to characteristics considered immature. It derives from the Latin infans, meaning “unable to speak,” and historically has been used to label early life conditions or behaviors. In medical and developmental contexts, infantile denotes phenomena that originate during infancy or early childhood and is often used with a family of related terms.

Common examples include infantile reflexes, such as rooting or grasp, which are present at birth and disappear as the nervous system matures. Infantile colic describes excessive, inconsolable crying in healthy infants, usually in the first few months. Infantile spasms, a specific epileptic disorder starting in infancy, are collectively referred to as West syndrome in some sources. Infantile hemangiomas are benign vascular tumors that typically appear shortly after birth and often involute over years. Infantile amnesia refers to the limited ability to recall events from early childhood, generally before age 3–4.

In contemporary usage, “infantile” is mainly found in clinical or academic writing. Some uses outside medicine describe behavior as infantile to indicate immaturity; such usage can be pejorative. More precise terms, such as neonatal, early infancy, or early childhood, are often preferred when describing stages of development or age-specific conditions.

Overall, infantile remains a standard descriptor in medical literature for conditions and features associated with infancy, while also serving as a general term for early-life characteristics.