A Study of the Component Elements in the Establishment of Limits: Their Evolution in the Treatment of an Anorexic Baby

Bruno was a premature baby, three weeks before term, but his development could be described as satisfactory. His mother was disappointed when she discovered she could not breast-feed this first-born child. Bruno had troubles sleeping during his first month, but these difficulties subsided in the second month. Then something happened at two months. Bruno's mother received a telephone call from the crèche where she had reserved a place for Bruno so she could return to work: there was an opening for Bruno in two weeks. The mother broke down upon hearing this news. The Directress of the crèche informed me later, “When I received her she was in tears. I even accompanied her to the door, because I was afraid she might fall down the stairs.”

A few days later, about ten days before Bruno was, in fact, to be separated from his mother and enter the crèche, Bruno reacted by catching a cold which quickly turned into bronchitis. He rejected practically all forms of nourishment, including the bottle. His mother returned to work. But Bruno's appetite did not increase in the crèche. Visits to the hospital and examinations did not counter-act his steady loss of weight.

Bruno had been in the crèche for a month when the nurses asked me to have a look at him. He was therefore three and a half months old. Since they asked what his behaviour might reflect, I suggested, rather discreetly, that perhaps Bruno was reacting to his separation from his mother. They immediately responded with, “Do you think he can possibly feel anything at that age? Of course not. He doesn't feel a thing.”

Yet, in spite of what they said, what other hypothesis could be evoked in describing the catastrophe this baby had experienced? As the observation of Bruno will later show, a depression was sustained by both mother and baby when the mother collapsed, a collapse which was experienced by the baby as the object's sudden loss of sight. The mother's arms and body were there, and her face as well, but her communicative