INTRODUCTION

Teaching in Early Childhood Education - ECE -, especially with babies, has been the topic of investigations and debates in the area. Even with the achievements and advances regarding the quality of assistance to ECE in the country, guaranteed in the legislation and documents in the area, there are still gaps and one of them is the formation of professionals (^{CAMPOS; FULLGRAF; WIGGERS, 2006}; ^{HADDAD, 2010}; ^{SCHMITT, 2014}; ^{CESTARO, 2019}).

When reflecting on teaching at ECE, ^{Cerisara (1999}) shows that the conceptions of the identity of teachers are related to the history of the emergence of daycare centers and preschools in the country, in which care in daycare and education in preschool prevail. We understand that the conceptions that these professionals have about babies are related to the constitution of teaching with babies, being historically constructed, directly implying the work they develop and the way they relate to them.

Considering all these factors and the process of singular references of teaching work at this stage of Basic Education, still, under construction, researchers in the area highlighted the need for reflections and public policies for initial and continuing education that address the theme of the meanings of work of caring and educating, in an inseparable way, in the context of ECE, especially working with babies, considering their specificities (^{CAMPOS, 1994}; ^{CERISARA, 1999}; ^{AMORIM; VITÓRIA; ROSSETTI-FERREIRA, 2000}; ^{KRAMER, 2008}; ^{BARBOSA, 2010}; ^{DUMONT-PENA, 2015}; ^{SILVA, 2016}, 2004). Among these specificities, their ways of communication stand out, which consist of bodily and emotional expressions such as crying, which has been the focus of recent studies on these ways of expression in the context of ECE institutions (^{ELTINK, 2000}; ^{MELCHIORI, 2004}; ^{PANTALENA, 2010}; ^{AMORIM; COSTA; RODRIGUES; MOURA; FERREIRA, 2012}; ^{SANTOS, 2012}; FERREIRA, 2020). However, there are still few works that focus on crying as a way of communication for babies in this context, as evidenced in a bibliographic survey that was updated in August 2020. The Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior), the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) website, the Electronic Journals in Psychology (PEPSIC), the UFMG University Library, and Google academic were consulted. The search was between 2000 and 2020, using, in a combined way, the following descriptors: “crying, babies and daycare”, “teachers, baby and crying” and “crying and ECE”. We also searched for works on the website of the National Association of Graduate Studies and Research in Education (ANPED- Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Educação), in the following workgroups: WG 7 - Education of children from 0 to 6 years old; WG 8 - Teacher Education; and WG 20 - Educational Psychology, between 2000 and 2019 (23rd to 39th Annual Meeting). In total, we found 26 studies that, in some way, deal with the theme of babies and their interactions with the other adult in ECE institutions, highlighting crying as a specific way of communication for this group. These works are research in the areas of Education and Psychology. The works found, even with different themes and objectives, converge to a central focus, which is the potentialities and capacities of babies and young children as active individuals, who can express themselves in various ways in the moments of interaction with others, and how important is the role of teachers in reacting and giving meaning to the babies' expressions, contributing to their integral development. However, few studies focus on the crying of babies in ECE institutions as their main focus of analysis. In the next section, we will highlight some of these researches that relate to the focus defined in this article.

Thus, we think is important to reflect on this emotional expression of babies in ECE, emphasizing the importance of the postures and actions of teachers⁴ and assistants⁵ in crying as an element that allows reflections on the professional and human formation necessary in the work of care and education. In this sense, we seek to analyze the re(actions) of the teachers and the ECE support assistant in the crying of babies in the interactions established with them in the EMEI (Escola Municipal de Educação Infantil), having as reference the literature of the area and the guiding documents of the ECE at the national and municipal level.

The work is structured in three sections: In the first, we will discuss the crying of babies and teaching in the daycare center; in the second, the profile of ECE teaching in Belo Horizonte and the methodological paths of the research will be briefly presented (^{MARQUES, 2019}); and the third section will present, in a succinct way, the dynamics of organization of the routine and the babies' environment and the analyzes and reflections on the re(actions) of the teachers and the assistant in the crying, in their moments of interactions in the researched EMEI.

THE CRYING OF BABIES AND TEACHING IN THE DAYCARE

Teaching with babies is a job that requires physical disposition and an emotional disposition since there are many “emotions, senses and feelings involved in the bonds between babies and adults in a full-time day at daycares &91#;...&93#;” (^{GUIMARÃES, 2011}, p. 194). Babies, in their condition of dependence on adults, demand greater availability from teachers and demand that work with them be planned, considering the singularities and how they express their desires. Through these expressions and interactions, in the countless possibilities that the other points out to them, babies build their languages ​​and their senses for everything that surrounds them (RITCHER; ^{BARBOSA, 2010}). Among these specific languages, crying is considered an important way of communication of babies with the world, and through this emotional communication, they interact with each other and with the environment in which they are inserted. In this process of meaning and interaction with the other, they are constructed as an individual (^{WALLON, 1968}, ¹⁹⁷¹; ^{VIGOTSKI, 1996}, ¹⁹⁹⁸, ²⁰⁰⁷).

On human development, as Vygotsky (¹⁹⁹⁶, ²⁰⁰⁷), ^{Wallon (1968}, ¹⁹⁷¹) conceives it as something non-linear, a dynamic process that takes place in a tangle of biological, social, and cultural factors, in which the construction of knowledge, of the self and the other, happens through the relationships and interactions with the environment in which the individuals are inserted. Based on this assumption, the Wallonian psychogenetic theory proposes a study of the complete person in a dialectical perspective, thinking about the child's development in a contextualized way and stages, in which “&91#;...&93#; each phase is a system of relationships between the child's capacities and the medium that makes them reciprocally specify” (^{WALLON, 2007}, p. 29). These phases are not replaced one by the other, there is complementation between them. This development is not understood in a single aspect, but rather in an integrated way, encompassing all the functional fields in which the child's activity is distributed: the affective, the cognitive, and the motor (^{GALVÃO, 1995}).

Affectivity is the central theme of Henri Wallon's psychogenetic theory. It is one of the functional domains that play an essential role in the constitution of the child's higher psychic processes; the first manifestations of babies are characterized by emotion. “Emotion is the manifestation of a subjective state with strongly organic components, more precisely tonic; it is the proper expression of affection” (^{ALMEIDA, 2009}, p. 53). In Wallon's words about the newborn:

Their affective manifestations were initially limited to the wail of hunger or colic and the relaxation of digestion or sleep. At first, their differentiation is very slow. But, at 6 months, the system of the children to translate their emotions is varied enough to make them a vast surface of osmosis with the human environment. This is a fundamental stage of their psyche. Their gestures are linked to certain effects through the other; to the gestures of others, the predictions. But this reciprocity is initially a complete amalgamation, it is total participation, in which they will later have to delimit their person, deeply fertilized by this first absorption in the other (^{WALLON, 1968}, p. 194).

In this sense, these emotional expressions of babies become meaning through the interactions they establish, firstly, with the human environment and, later, with the environment. In this rich moment of learning, it is established “&91#;...&93#; an intense affective communication, a dialogue based on body and expressive components” (^{GALVÃO, 1995}, p. 61), which are constitutive parts of their social interactions. “This beginning of the human being by the affective or emotional stage that, incidentally, corresponds so well to the total and prolonged clumsiness of his childhood, guides his first intuitions towards others and puts sociability in the foreground in him” (^{WALLON, 2008}, p. 120).

About crying early in life, ^{Wallon (2007}) states:

The crying of the newborn that comes into the world, crying of despair, according to Lucrécio, before the life that opens up to him, crying of anguish, according to Freud, at the moment in which it separates from the maternal organism, for the physiologist it means nothing more than a spasm of the glottis, which accompanies the first respiratory reflexes. Its psychological motivation linked to presentiment or regret has something mythical. But its reduction to a simple muscular fact is no more than an abstraction. It belongs to a whole vital complex. Crying is linked to spasms, but a set of conditions and simultaneous impressions that are expressed in spasms as well as crying. At this elementary stage, one obviously cannot think of distinguishing the sign from the cause (^{WALLON, 2007}, p. 118).

Crying, initially biological, is modified by cultural and social activities, by the action of the other, “&91#;...&93#; crying in the proper sense is a characteristic of homo sapiens, it is one of the hallmarks of the human species” (^{PINO, 2005}, p. 204). This crying, over time, becomes a means of emotional expression, a form of representation of a certain demand and the child's reactions to the social environment. According to ^{Vasconcelos et al. (2014}), for Vygotsky, the various ways babies express, even before the pronunciation of the first words, such as crying, gestures, and babbling, are considered ways of speaking, even if they are not yet related to thought. In this sense, the affective dimension constitutes one of the propelling elements of this development and this learning of babies in the context of ECE.

In daycare, crying that is not welcomed is not meant, it is up to the baby to elaborate the situation for himself. The teacher does not act as a container or a recipient. If crying were understood as the child's communication &91#;...&93#; it would favor the teacher-baby relationship &91#;...&93#;. Hearing the cry is giving the baby a voice (^{PANTALENA, 2010}, p. 95).

We need to recognize and understand how emotional expressions occur in this context of ECE since the figure of the teachers is fundamental for welcoming and creating situations of listening and interaction. Regarding the ways of caring and responding to these demands of babies, the research by ^{Eltink (2000}) on the process of inserting children under two years old into daycare sought to discuss some indications that educators used to assess whether a child was doing well or not, crying was highlighted as one of the signs that indicated the discomfort. Thus, when working with babies in ECE institutions, teachers need to know how to recognize their languages, welcoming their emotions. ^{Santos (2012}), in his study on children's crying in this context, states that:

Dealing with it evokes the conceptions of childhood, education, and learning that are revealed in the actions of professionals, in daily life in daycare centers. We assume, then, that crying is part of the daily movement of the daycare center and must be problematized beyond the moment of insertion of young children in the institutions that receive them (^{SANTOS, 2012}, p. 101).

In this sense, it is important to pay attention to the quality of children's relationships with adults in ECE institutions, especially with teachers, since through these relationships and interactions, children signify and re-signify the world. ^{Vygotsky (2007)}, with his theoretical contribution, contributed significantly to thinking about the education and care of young children, especially babies, indicating how the mediating elements, especially adults, play a fundamental role in this process.

^{Barbosa (2010}) states that “&91#;...&93#;. Educating babies does not only mean the constitution and application of an objective pedagogical project but putting physically and emotionally, at the disposal of children, which requires commitment and responsibilities from adults” (^{BARBOSA, 2010}, p. 5). Teaching with babies depends on this commitment and engagement.

^{Gonçalves and Rocha (2017}) identify that being a baby teacher is a job marked by subtlety, sensitivity, “&91#;...&93#; by relationships, human interactions and the sharing of experiences” (p. 403). It is a work that has its specificities and singularities regarding the care and education of babies. Among these aspects that constitute teaching with babies, the authors also highlight the centrality of care actions, which are characterized in various ways, as the individuals who are involved depend on them; their conceptions and subjectivities also depend on who cares and who is cared for and are still deeply involved by the way of thinking about care as a human dimension, in a broader sphere of society.

It is important to highlight that care has been the theme of debates and analyses in different fields of knowledge, such as Social Sciences, Health, Philosophy, Psychology, and Education. In all these areas of knowledge, the assumption is that care is considered constitutive of human relationships, not being a merely technical work, but a concept resulting from social construction, which involves the various forms of organization of societies and social and cultural practices that characterize different realities, as well as social, cultural and gender inequality (^{GUIMARÃES; HIRATA; SUGITA, 2012}; ^{MOLINIER; PAPERMAN, 2015}). Therefore, this work of caring cannot be governed by the logic of intervention and domination, but by the understanding that caring is, above all, a way of being and not simply doing, it is something that encompasses the human being in its entirety, it is the “&91#;...&93#; essence of the human” (^{TEIXEIRA SILVA, 2017}, p .472).

In this work with babies, care practices are at the heart of relationships. Regarding the work of these teachers in ECE institutions, ^{Maranhão (2011}) questions whether training to care for babies and children would be possible, or if not “&91#;...&93#; would care to be a sphere of individual experience that concerns to the personality of the educator” (p. 83). In this sense, we cannot fail to consider that these conceptions and experiences cross and permeate, at all times, the way of teaching babies.

Regarding the care and education work with babies in ECE, the National Curricular Guidelines for Early Childhood Education - DCNEI Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais da Educação Infantil - present a conception and purpose of ECE referenced in the understanding of babies and children as individuals and the centrality of interactions and games in their learning processes and integral development. In this way, they advocate that these are the main axes of work organization and pedagogical practices to be carried out with these people in ECE institutions. This document reiterates the importance of thinking about the organization of times, spaces, and materials in daycare centers and preschools, in a way that the inseparability of care and education work is ensured, considering the “expressive-motor dimensions, affective, cognitive, linguistic, ethical, aesthetic and sociocultural aspects of children” (^{BRASIL, 2010}, p. 19). Based on these principles, we expect that teachers and other professionals who work in this stage of Basic Education have a look at children, especially babies, considering them as active and powerful individuals, capable of affecting, creating, and provoking the adults in the sense of the search for knowledge and the meaning of the world.

THE PROFILE OF ECE TEACHING IN BELO HORIZONTE AND THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGICAL PATHWAYS

In the ECE teaching, especially with babies, in the case of Belo Horizonte (MG), the training requirement for teaching at this stage of Basic Education, at the time of the research, was the minimum training in High School in the Normal Modality, upon approval in a public tender, with a daily shift of 4 and a half hours, totaling 22 hours and 30 minutes per week. Recently, in 2018, the training requirement for the exercise of the position was changed, and now, only professionals with a minimum degree of higher education will be able to assume the position of ECE teacher (^{BELO HORIZONTE, 2018}).

The hiring of the assistants who also work in the EMEIs in Belo Horizonte at the time of the research was done by the school funds, through the CLT system, with a working day of eight hours a day. The criteria for participating in the selection and hiring process were having completed high school without a teaching qualification; being at least 21 years old; have registered with the National Employment System (SINE- Sistema Nacional de Emprego) (^{BELO HORIZONTE, 2015}). Recently, in addition to these requirements, some changes have occurred, highlighting the need to present at least six months of experience in activities in the school environment, upon some proof.

We want to highlight here, even if briefly, some of the attributions of these assistants in working with babies and young children. Under the guidance of the teachers, they assist in educational activities, such as feeding, bathing, changing diapers, among others. They must take care of the children, always seeking to relate and interact respectfully and attentively with them, both in the internal and external spaces of the institution (^{BELO HORIZONTE, 2015}).

As for the work of caring for and educating babies and children, we noted that the attributions of these assistants are also part of the attributions of the ECE teachers in the municipality. In this sense, the creation of the position of assistant, in the case of Belo Horizonte, is possibly one of the factors that make it difficult to understand what teaching in the nursery is. Also, the division from the creation of this other position weakens the construction of practices that articulate care and education, since the assistants are more responsible for the actions recognized as care, and the teachers, for the practices recognized as educational (^{BITENCOURT; SILVA, 2017}).

Regarding care and education practices, the Curriculum Propositions for ECE in the municipality reaffirm the understanding of interactions and games as structuring axes of pedagogical proposals in ECE institutions (^{BELO HORIZONTE, 2015}). The Propositions also present the understanding of babies and young children as individuals of rights and competent who “&91#;...&93#;interrogate the world, its elements, its relationships, re-elaborate them and assign meaning to this whole process” (^{BELO HORIZONTE, 2014}, p. 61).

In this learning and development process, the DCNEI reiterate the importance of recognizing two main aspects: the way babies and children relate to the world and the way they manifest and communicate with others; and the recognition that the practices they experience and the way others interact with them - and how they react to their specificities - create a context that acts directly on the subjectivity of each of these individuals, both in babies and children as in the professionals (BRASIL, 2010). We should emphasize that, during the research, the National Common Curriculum Base - Base Nacional Comum Curricular - BNCC - was approved. It is a document that has a mandatory character and has been a source of discussions and tensions in the area of ECE.⁶

We present here part of the results of research (^{MARQUES, 2019}) with a qualitative approach (^{MINAYO, 2012}), focusing on reflective analyzes of the re(actions) that these teachers and the assistant had in the crying of babies at EMEI, taking as a reference, studies of ECE (^{CAMPOS, 1994}; ^{CERISARA, 1999}; ^{SILVA, 2004}; ^{KRAMER, 2008}; ^{BARBOSA, 2010}; ^{FALK, 2011}; ^{FOCHI, 2019}, ²⁰¹³) and normative documents of ECE at the national and municipal levels (^{BRASIL, 2010}, ¹⁹⁹⁶; ^{BELO HORIZONTE, 2015}, ²⁰¹⁴). As the main method, participant observation was used, following a class composed of 12 babies, 4 teachers, and 1 ECE support assistant in an EMEI in Belo Horizonte (MG).

The observations were made during the second half of 2017 and were recorded in a field diary. Video recordings of the group's interactions and semi-structured interviews with the teachers and the assistant were also made. The results presented here come from the analysis of video recordings and field diary records. Thematic content analysis (^{BARDIN, 1979}) was the reference for data classification and organization.

To carry out the research, we followed all procedures established by the Graduate Program in Education and the Research Ethics Committee of the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG). All procedures and ethical care were also observed in the authorization for the beginning of the research and entry into the field and the participation of the subjects. For this, we had meetings with the teachers, with the assistant, and with the legal guardians of the babies to present the research and the Informed Consent Form - ICF. Considering that ethics goes beyond these technical and bureaucratic procedures, we sought to adopt a welcoming posture for the participants involved in the research throughout the fieldwork. Recognizing the privilege of being in the field, especially with babies, we tried to observe them considering their specificities and interacting with them in an emic perspective of investigation, always based on unconditional respect.

From the footage data, we found 131 scenes of crying expressions of babies in the most diverse moments of interaction with each other, with the teachers, and with the assistant. The transcription of all these scenes was performed in full, and, after this detailed work, we found a general map of the information. From this general map, we created tables to group scenes in which the re(actions) were similar, making the mapping of each one of them. Four different forms of re(actions) were observed: they re(acted) when the babies were crying, approaching, and talking to them; they checked their physical and biological needs; they kept or offered some object or toy; and finally, they distanced themselves or did not approach the babies when they were crying (^{MARQUES, 2019}).

QUESTIONS AND REFLECTIONS ABOUT THE RE(ACTIONS) OF TEACHERS AND ASSISTANT WITH THE CRYING OF THE BABIES

In the analysis presented below, we considered both the concrete conditions of the institution in which the observed individuals were inserted and the conceptions of the teachers and the assistant about the babies with whom they had a relationship and about the work developed with them at EMEI (^{DUBET, 1994}; ^{VIGOTSKI, 2007}). In this sense, we considered it important to briefly explain some elements about the participants and the dynamics of the routine and organization of the environment for the group of babies, since they influenced, to a large extent, the interactions they established in the EMEI, and their crying expressions. The routine is understood as something more comprehensive, which includes, in addition to repetitive activities, the possibilities of its flexibility, the subjectivities of the individuals inserted in that space, and the relationships established in the environment, as indicated by ^{Horn (2004}).

The class had 12 babies, monitored daily by five teachers and an ECE support assistant during full-time. The boxes boxe below show the names⁷ and ages of all the research participants. In the first table, referring to the identification of babies, we highlighted the twin babies who were part of the class.

Source: Research data. Our elaboration.

Box 1 - Presentation of babies⁸ and their ages at the beginning of the research. 

Source: Research data. Our elaboration.

Box 2 - Presentation of the teachers and the assistant and their ages at the beginning of the research 

Every day, two teachers were in the room while the other two were involved with the planning of pedagogical activities in the external space of the room. The assistant's role was always to be with the teachers, except when there was a demand from the pedagogical coordination.

Regarding the organization of the pedagogical work with the babies, who remained at the EMEI full-time from 7 am to 5:30 pm, we found that there was a fixed routine, but with some flexibility, considering their demands. The main actions of this routine, in the morning shift, were named by the teachers as follows: “Welcome”, “Baby bottle”, “Light meal”, “Bath”, “Lunch”, “Diaper change” and “Sleep”. Considering that these observations were specifically in the afternoon, this study will focus on this part of the day. In the afternoon shift, at 12:45, the babies were woken up to take the bottle; then the other stages were followed - “Diaper change”, “Snack”, “Dinner”, “Diaper and clothes change” and “Sleep” - until it was time to leave. Along with this daily routine, there were actions, called “pedagogical activities”, related to two projects developed in the nursery: “Ateliers” and “Sensations”. The activities related to the projects were carried out on alternate days of the week and involved the babies going out to other spaces at EMEI, such as the library, the park, the lobby, the playground, and the solarium.

For different reasons, the activities planned to be carried out in the external spaces did not take place. In these situations, the teachers tried to reorganize the routine with other activities carried out inside the nursery room. Consequently, as observed during the research, the babies rarely circulated in other environments of the EMEI, especially the external ones. When they did, the teachers rarely stayed in these spaces for a shorter period than what was established in the babies' daily routine. Thus, there was a routine organization contrary to the indications of the literature, because, according to ^{Barbosa (2010}), babies have the right to attend other spaces in the school and the activities room, especially the external spaces, since “&91#;...&93#; it is necessary for young children to have daily contact with sunlight, fresh air and to be able to observe and interact with nature” (p. 8).

In the nursery room, the teachers were careful and attentive to the babies and, all the time, they tried to carry out some activity to involve the group as a whole. However, they rarely failed to do so, since, for that, all babies would have to have a simultaneous interest in the same activities and objects, something complex and difficult to happen. We also found that the objects were given only when there was some work proposal directed by the teachers and that the dispute over them was usually a trigger for crying.

To understand the re(actions) of the teachers and the assistant in a detailed way and the possible factors that may have influenced them in some way, we sought to make this synthesis of the observed context, trying to capture the possibilities and limitations of the times, spaces and materials and their implications for the interactions between the teachers, the assistant and the babies at EMEI.

The analysis of the re(actions) of the teachers and the support assistant in the babies' crying were grouped into two categories: re(actions) that reveal moments of harmony between the theoretical reflections and the interactions in the daycare; and re(actions) that reveal moments of tension and contradictions in the interactions at the daycare center.

In the first category, we identified reflections on the postures and re(actions) of the teachers and the assistant with the crying of babies, considered attentive and committed to promoting the integral development of these individuals, as recommended by national and international legal documents (^{BRASIL, 2010}, ¹⁹⁹⁶; ^{BELO HORIZONTE, 2015}, ²⁰¹⁴). In the second category, we listed reflections and criticisms about the moments in which the teachers and the assistant distanced from these principles and the purpose of ECE, disregarding, to some extent, the needs of babies. The line of work of this study involves an ethical posture that opposes the previous and simplistic judgment of the re(actions) of the teachers and the assistant. In this sense, the first objective is to provide some reflections in which the theories, the meanings produced by the researchers, and those produced by the babies, the teachers, and the assistant to support ECE of the EMEI, are intertwined. The idea is to allow these meanings to appear, emerging also differences (^{GEERTZ, 1989}).

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

The analysis carried out enabled to expand the understanding of how the teachers and the ECE support assistant re(acted) to the babies' crying in their moments of interaction at the EMEI. Through a thorough analysis of the field diary and footage, we carried out the interpretation made in this text.

The research revealed four different ways of re(acting) in the babies' crying: approaching and talking to them; checking their physical and biological needs; keeping or offering them a toy or object, and somehow moving away or not approaching them at the moment when they cry. Analyzing and reflecting on these re(actions) of the teachers and the assistant, most of the time, they were attentive to the babies' crying expressions, trying to interact with them and re(act) to these expressions. In these moments, they presented an adequate posture of dialogue and approximation, demonstrating committed attitudes and in line with the purpose of the care and education work with babies proposed in the literature of the area and the guiding documents of ECE, both at the national and municipal levels.

However, some moments of tension and contradictions were also identified regarding their ways of re(acting) in the babies' crying. In this sense, we considered it pertinent to make some criticisms and reflections to contribute to the deconstruction of conceptions, perceptions, and pedagogical practices towards babies that do not match the ECE conceptions presented here and that this research identifies.

Two criticisms or points for reflection stand out: the first refers to the way they re(acted) in the babies crying, keeping or offering them some toy or object, and the intrinsic relationship of this crying with the organization of times, spaces, and materials for the group of babies at these times. The second criticism refers to the way they interpreted crying, most of the time, as a manifestation of physical and biological needs or as a “tantrum”, “whining” or “mulishness” and their re(actions) in these crying babies. In these moments, especially the teachers, sometimes distanced from the principles and purpose of ECE, disregarding, in a way, the babies' needs.

As the interactions take place in concrete conditions, we emphasize that the set of materials constructed in the research indicates that the teachers and the ECE support assistant acted to try to provide the babies' well-being; that is, they were doing the best they could. For this reason, the existence of several elements that largely influenced the way they cared for and educated babies, as well as responded to their manifestations, is highlighted: their conceptions about babies and their crying, the organization of the environment, the institution's political-pedagogical proposal, working conditions and the initial and continuing education of these professionals. Also, the teachers revealed that they knew each baby and how much, as far as possible, they were available to them, listening to their voices, their rhythms, and their movements to get to know them better and, therefore, to respond to their demands.

The expansion and strengthening of educational practices of reception and dialogue with babies who attend daycare centers and ECE schools can be enhanced with initial and continuing education actions built from the interaction with professionals directly involved in the work field. The research indicated that, as the teachers and assistants are listened to, and with them, interaction is established, the possibilities for them to problematize their daily routines and to be involved in the construction of significant pedagogical practices for and with the babies grow.

For professionals to re-signify their conceptions and practices in the babies' crying, it is important that they have opportunities to deepen their knowledge on the theme and that they start to consider crying as one of the relevant elements that should be better observed during their practices with babies. This deepening of knowledge can be provided, as already emphasized, in training moments that are supported by the discussion of situations that occurred in the context of each institution, ensuring professionals' spaces for listening and direct participation. Also, they involve theoretical knowledge of the fields of Psychology, Pedagogy, and Early Childhood Education, counting, if possible, with the participation of professionals from these areas. We also suggest that professionals pay attention to the way they organize times, spaces, and objects, seeking to provide babies with more moments of interactions with each other and with objects; and to avoid practices that cause discomfort to babies because they require long waiting times and behaviors that are not meaningful to them. Finally, are reinforced the indications, already present in the text, of the need for external spaces with green areas in Early Childhood Education institutions, and that babies can use them regularly; that several adults be ensured per grouping of babies that allows close and constant interactions.

We reiterate the indication of further research on the various ways of expression of babies in ECE and on the postures and actions of teachers and assistants, given the complexity of this work and how much it is still new and unknown, even among professionals in the area. Furthermore, the need for working conditions that allow teachers and assistants to have adequate time, space, and remuneration that enable planning, evaluation, and reflection on their work is affirmed. Without these conditions, it is unlikely that they will be able to rethink their practices and build work based on ethics, in which there is a continuous movement of reflection on the ways of acting and being in the interactions they establish with babies. This is because these individuals, with the alterity they carry, displace and challenge, demand presence, responsibility, and commitment, not only with themselves but with the whole of humanity.