Editing Psychosexual development (section)

===Oral stage===
{{main article|Oral stage}}
[[File:BabySuckingFingers.jpg|thumb|Oral needs may be satisfied by thumb-sucking.]]
The first stage of psychosexual development is the oral stage, spanning from birth until the age of one year, wherein the infant's mouth is the focus of libidinal gratification derived from the pleasure of feeding at the mother's breast, and from the oral exploration of their environment, i.e. the tendency to place objects in the mouth. The child focuses on nursing, with the intrinsic pleasure of sucking and accepting things into the mouth.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Elkatawneh |first=Hassan H. |date=2013 |title=Freud's Psycho-Sexual Stages of Development |url=https://www.ssrn.com/abstract=2364215 |journal=SSRN Electronic Journal |language=en |doi=10.2139/ssrn.2364215 |issn=1556-5068|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Since the [[Id, ego and super-ego#Ego|ego]] is not developed beyond the most rudimentary form at this stage, every action is based upon the [[Pleasure principle (psychology)|pleasure principle]] of the [[Id, ego and super-ego#Ego|id]]. Nonetheless, the infantile ego is in the process of forming during the oral stage. In developing a [[body image]], infants are aware of themselves as discrete from the external world; for example, the child understands pain when it is applied to their body, thus identifying the physical boundaries between body and environment. The experience of delayed gratification leads to understanding that specific behaviors satisfy some needs; for example, crying gratifies certain needs.<ref name="Leach, P. 1997 p. 000">Leach, P. (1997) ''Your Baby and Child: From Birth to Age Five'' 5th edition. New York:Knopf p. 000</ref>

[[Weaning]] is the key experience in the infant's oral stage of psychosexual development, their first feeling of loss consequent to losing the physical intimacy of feeding at their mother's breast. The child is not only deprived of the sensory pleasures of nursing but also of the psychological pleasure of being cared for, mothered, and held. However, weaning increases the infant's self-awareness, through learning that they do not control their environment. The experience of [[delayed gratification]] leads to the formation of capacities for ''independence'' (awareness of the limits of the self) and ''trust'' (behaviors leading to gratification). Thwarting of the oral-stage – too much or too little gratification of [[Libido|desire]] – might lead to an oral-stage [[fixation (psychology)|fixation]], which can be the root of neurotic tendencies in the developed personality. In the case of too much gratification, the child does not adequately learn that they do not control the environment, and that gratification is not always immediate, thereby forming an immature personality.<ref name=":1" /> In the case of too little gratification, the infant might become passive upon learning that gratification is not forthcoming, despite having produced the gratifying behavior.<ref name="Leach, P. 1997 p. 000"/>