One of the most quoted guys on early development, Winnicott, said, enigmatically and purposely so, there is no such thing as an infant.

What could that possibly mean? He was not just a child psychiatrist and analyst; he was also a very actively practicing pediatrician. So he had a lot of real world observation.

What he meant is that the infant is born into a dyad with lots of contingencies, that mostly are temporary but some mothers don't necessary adopt them and that leads to problems.

Now in the field that Winnicott once occupied there are people who use infant neuroscience and attachment research to ground their theories and also their approaches to therapy. And that is very complicated but some of the findings do pretty much show that human infants are born with an ability to recognize and relate to what would be the care giver's cues. It is so clear that even an infant's focal eye length is not what you would think, just immediate, maybe for the breast and feeding. No. It is about 8 inches and seemingly designed to be able to focus on the face while feeding. Think about the difference that makes. It is truly amazing.

But it also shows that there can be lacks in the process that may not be intentionally harmful but still result in negative consequences.