The James Jackson Putnam Children''s Center was established in 1943 for the purpose of studying the mother and her young child as a dynamic unit. Parallel psychiatric observations are made on both the disturbed child and the parent. The emotional development and difficulties of the child are studied in relation to the personality problems and reaction patterns of the mother. Data from studies made indicate that a mother''s own conflicts and anxieties are often duplicated in her child. There is similarity not only in their manifest behavior and in their underlying reactions to unconscious conflicts, but also in the specific defensive measures with which they attempt to cope with the conflict situation. Such patterns of conflict may well exist for generations if not interrupted by therapy. Two illustrative case histories which involved feeding problems in early childhood are presented.