Clinging and following behavior of the toddler is not instinctual as Bowlby contends, but an expression of the infant's attachment to and reliance upon a need-gratifying, protective mother figure. An adequate review of the mother-child relation should look at the contributions and problems each brings to the other in ego terms as well as in terms of the instinctual development of the baby, the process of identification, and the libidinal supplies of the mother.