This paper explores the treatment of developmental imbalance in the young child. Examples from the treatment of a prelatency girl are examined for the usefulness of analysis in redressing early conflicts, which Anna Freud termed “a fertile breeding ground for the later infantile neurosis.” In this case the child, whose history included significant prematurity, also sustained environmental stresses to which she reacted by constructing a developmentally precocious independence designed to protect her from overwhelming affect states. This defensive stance could not be maintained over time, and its breakdown brought her to treatment.