Saving the bathwater.

This article presents an account of the development and use of the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS) over the past 15 years. It deals with both the formal and informal ways in which administering the NBAS has increased our understanding of the forces for development in the newborn, of states of consciousness in the infant, of the potential for predicting from one point in development to the next, and of a clinician's opportunities to share information with parents and to participate in the enterprise of parenting. It draws attention to the value of the qualitative insights that are gained by investigators, alongside the more quantitative fruits of a research endeavor.