Rosemary Balsam discusses how the pregnant body has been overlooked in psychoanalytic developmental theory and the impact this has on clinical work. Highlighting the dynamic plasticity of the female form, she describes the conflicts for women of locating and integrating stable mental representations. She argues the case for moving beyond a Freudian phallocentric framework maintained by the Oedipus complex, towards one that incorporates the actuality of female bodily experience. The impact of the mother’s body on female development is emphasised.