ABSTRACT
Object relations theory, in spite of all its variations of emphasis, postulates the irreducible relation to a primary object - namely the breast - which will determine to a greater or lesser extent the internal world of the infant and thus, eventually, the adult. But for Jacques Lacan the importance of the mirror goes beyond the gaze of the mother. The mirror in which the baby can see its own reflection determines an overturning of the baby’s perception of the world. In the baby, pleasure seems to find its satisfaction in the breast as the only object offered to it, and as this is the object of feeding, it is offered to him for the satisfaction of his hunger. Regression does not tell us much about the actual infantile stages, but about the infant’s encounters with the world’s demands and offerings, as well as missed encounters.
