Abstract

BOTERO, Hilda  and  LIMA, Ireô. Baby language: early experiences Psychoanalytical observations in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Rev. bras. psicanál [online]. 2011, vol.45, n.3, pp.145-155. ISSN 0486-641X.

Baby Observation, considered from various angles, gave a strong impulse to the understanding of the newborn, as well as the understanding of the unborn baby in its mothers womb, its developments and mental possibilities. I suggest considering the emotional commitment of two minds as a start and a guarantee of thephysical and emotional survival of the unborn, theperi-natal and thepost-natal baby. The newborn does not dispose of words; it employs body language in order to express each emotional move-ment which occurs in its life experience. The mothers alpha function, in intense engagement with her baby, accomplishes through an intimate reverie, the guidance towards the human world, by means of a creative transformation of the beta elements projected by the baby, into sensations, experiences, alpha elements capable of being tolerated long enough as to make them become a thinking exercise for the baby. Clear messages, such as those of Pablo, a twenty minute old premature baby, take us close to the opportunity of accepting the challenge of the emotional commitment which requires the use of the baby's language as a communicative act and an affective dialogue. I think that the alpha function is the wise function of the personality, which offers the baby in its mother's womb, and out of it, the emotional space in which it can build the communicative universe necessary for the blossoming of its mind.

Keywords : language; emotional engagement; early relationship; mental development.

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