ABSTRACT
The formation of body image is a complicated process that begins at birth, and perhaps even earlier, as parents bring their hopes, ideals, and genetics to the life of their child. The infant experiences her world through bodily sensations such as being held and fed, and the quality of these experiences helps create her earliest sense of her body. The infant begins by experiencing the caretaking as an extension of herself, but eventually learns that she is a separate being. In her book The Magic Years, Selma Fraiberg, a child psychoanalyst, states, “During the early months the infant doesn’t differentiate between his body and other bodies, or between mental images and perceptions, between inner and outer. Everything is undifferentiated oneness, the one being centered in the baby himself.”1 The infant feels bodily discomforts that require care from her parents or other nurturing adults, and the extent to which these needs are understood and responded to affects her bodily sense of well-being.
