CONSERVATION-WITHDRAWAL REACTION IN INFANCY - AN UNDERDESCRIBED ENTITY

Conservation-withdrawal is considered a biological non-pathological pr ocess subserving survival in circumstances which pose an extreme threa t to an infant, child or adult. Although initially described in an inf ant, its reported frequency in that age group seems sparse. Four infan ts are described, three of whom presented with weight loss. Despite th eir mothers' assertions that their breast feeding was adequate, the th ree infants gained weight rapidly on complementary feeding and became more responsive. Previously they had passively accepted sub-optimal in takes, crying little and sleeping excessively. When their initial cryi ng and objection went unheeded, they seemed to pass into a conservatio n-withdrawal state, conserving their energies, biologically adapting t o their mothers' inability to provide adequate nutrition. These infant s did not appear ill and investigations proved normal. With adequate f eeding, rapid improvement was observed in their weight gain, activity and responsiveness with normal development. Their mothers' selective d enial of their own inadequate breast supply resulted in their inabilit y to perceive their infants appropriately, depriving them of their nut ritional needs. Additional factors of emotional deprivation and neglec t may have occurred in the fourth infant. The responses of these infan ts observed during their period of severe stress, may appropriately be characterised by Engel's conservation-withdrawal state.