This study was aimed (1) to analyze whether from neonatal facial expressions experienced adults like parents can recognize specific emotional states and/or spe-cific eliciting situations, or only distinguish positive from negative states; (2) to examine whether the parents’ judgements become more precise with the increase of the infant age; (3) to assess whether the mothers’ judgements differ from the fathers’ ones. Six infants’ facial expressions were videotaped at 3 days, 1 and 3 months, in five different eliciting situations. Sixty-six mothers and 66 fathers were asked to judge the videotaped facial expressions in relation to the activation and pleasure/displeasure dimensions, the recognition of the eliciting situations, and the attribution of a verbal label to each expression. Results indicate that neonates’ and young infants’ facial expressions were more easily interpreted as signals of activation and pleasure/displeasure, rather than as signals of specific emotional states and/or specific eliciting situations. No significant differences in the frequen-cy of correct answers were found between mothers and fathers.