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Though much attention has been focused in analytic work with adults on the effect of oral fixation and regression on developmental disturbances, little systematic investigation has been devoted to oral fixation in early childhood.
Observations by one observer (Alpert) of the unusual intensity and persistence of thumb sucking in some of the children attending the nursery at the Child Development Center,1 who would otherwise be described as "normal" in their development, raised questions about the role of variations in drive endowment in such cases. This was explored in a joint publication by Alpert, Neubauer, Weil (1956). This was followed by an investigation of the dynamic determinants of oral fixation by means of analytic treatment of the same case which had been studied by Alpert in the paper already referred to. The analysis was carried out by the co-author of this paper, Dr. Isidor Bernstein.2
Carl was the mother's second pregnancy, the first having terminated in stillbirth, due to delay in performing a Caesarean section. Carl was delivered by Caesarean section, at full term, condition normal,