the concept of wanting everyone to see your baby (who is at that point a potato with no personality yet) seems so narcissistic to me

Theres so much rigamarole around parading your baby around, but they are barely people yet. Babies just need to rest and eat and probably to be left alone and not prodded by strangers. Their eyes dont even work yet and all those shapes and sounds must be scary! But people bring out this baby who's sleepy and scared, and make everyone touch it and look at it. I think thats what so much of the pursuit of having kids is all about, getting attention. And when they become real people, that ends. Thats why they crave more babies/ kids.