Adult behavior influence from infancy

Does a mother's treatment of her child affect the psychological development of her child even when the child is too young to be cognizant of and/or remember the acts?

Especially when the child is too young, do psys say. I'm not a psy, but I remember Nietzche commenting on the child, as being the father of man. Anyway, everything of which we are not aware is said to perform a deeper action on our mind, conscious and unconscious even more. I'll take that for granted.

Yes it can mess a child's emotional state of mind as well as physical. He or she can stop growing or over eat to get love and comfront from food.

But there is no determinism. Life is strange.

Here's an example of my question: A not-so-good mother disciplines a crying baby with a gentle poke with the diaper pin. Or perhaps the mother is simply careless as she pins the diaper on and pokes the infant on occasion. The child grows up and has an irrational fear of needles. Is it impossible to connect the two because the individual was too young to consciously remember the needle pokes?

yes, attachment is the most important thing at that age, if the child doesnt have an attachment to anyone they could end up with reactive attachment disorder (see in orphanages world wide) and this lasts through to adulthood... there arent too many treatments and psychologists dont actually know how to cure it... as children and then adults, people with RAD find it hard to form attachments and close relationships with other people...

Looks like your question is an answer

as to your example, uhm yes technically it would be impossible to connect the two because yes the child is too young to remember,

But then again it is hard to find the root cause of most phobias... some people will remember what set off their fears, but most won't...

Children have the ability to 'sense' things and learn what they live.

Ty, if it's impossible to connect the needle pokes with a fear of needles, would it be okay, then, for a mother to be abusive and claim it to be harmless by saying the infant won't remember it?

I think amlessed is correct, the infant will sense it, even if it's not a conscious process, and it *can* (not necessarily *will*) affect the individual into adulthood. This holds true for abuse, neglect, forming attachments, eating habits, etc.