[Severe digestive disorders in infants: infants who let themselves die?]

Do infants suffering of severe feeding problems let themselves die? From this question, the author attempts to describe some of the central elements of her psychodynamic understanding of merycist infants and of their treatment in an inpatient paediatric setting. Merycism appears as a vicissitude, within the parent-child relationship, of pathological mourning. Projective identifications allow the parents to avoid a melancholic fate but they hinder the development of the child's psychic and physical life. A clinical vignette illustrates the theoretical constructions as well as the therapeutic setting and approaches used by the author. The important role of a mother-child room and the central place of interpretations are discussed.