ABSTRACT
Sebastian, three-and-one-half months old, was brought for a consultation because of feeding difficulties. His mother was very concerned, saying that he hardly ate and was not gaining weight. As they sat in office, his mother, Mrs. M., avoided the en face position; she turned Sebastian away from her on her lap and never gazed into his eyes. In conversation, over several visits, she mentioned that breast-feeding had not 'worked' at all, and that she had given up very early. Sebastian and his mother illustrate several characteristics of projection that put an early relationship at risk. First of all, Sebastian is experienced as too accurate a reproduction of his maternal grandfather. Around Sebastian's first birthday, we came to realize that this mother-infant pair was locked into patterns of extreme contact avoidance, leading to very ungratifying exchanges. Sebastian was very fretful with many other signs of distress.
