Babies cuteness in the animal world, technical term

Folks, there's a technical term that describes the relationships between parents and their offspring in the animal world (particularly mammals where this has been more studied) in terms of how cute they look to the parents. It is theorized as a natural defensive mechanism that ensures positive emotional reactions and the consequent strengthening of the bond as well as the protective behavior exhibited by most parents.

I cannot seem to remember the actual word and I can't find it anywhere. Anyone know?

Neoteny?

That's it! Thanks. It also lead me to pedomorphosis. Precisely the type of stuff I'm interesting in reading. Off to Amazon...