ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author provides an account of a method of working and a service developed in the Child and Family Department of the Tavistock Clinic. She presents some thoughts on the use of observation in psychoanalytically orientated work. Two things come together in the under-fives work: first, the formative experience of doing and, in author case, teaching infant observation; and second, the long-standing experience she works with the parents of children who are referred for psychotherapy. The author shows that one of the sources of inspiration for setting up this service lies in the tradition of infant observation as part of the child psychotherapy and other trainings. Students observing an infant can become sensitive to infant modes of communication; they need to think about body language and about nonverbal or preverbal experiences and how to describe them. Infant observation involves much note being taken of the baby’s family.
