Sleeping and eating disorders, anxiety, impulsiveness: some infants display symptoms during their earliest weeks that seem to require medical attention. In 1991, 103 mother-and-infant pairs visited Geneva’s Guidance Infantile. The infants all displayed functional and behavioural disorders. Ten years later, the same mother-child pairs were re-evaluated by Professor Cramer’s team, who was thus able to make a number of prospective analyses. What became of the symptoms that the infants had first presented? Which ones endured, and which became faint? Did any of the symptoms first displayed indicate a predisposition to other disorders? Can the characteristics that helped them to endure be identified? What role was played by the intervening events in the child’s life? And what can be said of the role played by cognitive development and parental representations, as well as by protective factors? Targeting a readership of professionals, clinicians and researchers, this study across time is both the complement for specialists and the follow-up of Que deviendront nos bébés?, Bertrand Cramer’s earlier work. This book will enable readers to follow the development of the children in question, from their first examination at three months to their re-examination at eleven years old. In addition, it reviews the current state of research regarding prognosis and risk prevention, particularly during adolescence.

Professor Bertrand Cramer is a child psychiatrist working at Geneva’s Guidance Infantile. His works include Que deviendront nos bébés?, published by Editions Odile Jacob.