I have heard of this multiple times, mostly in social conversations.
It's likely not great not being touched as a baby, but I wonder if there's is actual science around the topic?
For example, there's bound to be some nurture vs nature aspect to this.
This was a very long time ago but I can imagine nobody does want to repeat this experiment.
Wasn't thinking of experiments (obviously), but rather data collected in the population on unfortunate but existing cases to try and correlate lack of affection as a baby with specific behaviors as an adult.
[EDIT]: btw, thanks for the pointer, I had never heard of Frederick's experiment [1]
[1] https://signsofthetimes.org.au/2018/08/fredericks-experiment...
This is not a real thing that happens.
I volunteered in an orphanage in eastern europe. The staff did the best they could, but they were severely underfunded. It was the best they could do to feed, change diapers and take care of the most acute medical needs of the large number of infants in their care. Just holding them even for a brief amount of time often was not possible, though they did try the best they could.
The results were heartbreaking. Some children did not speak, others constantly cried, most seemed "OK" but had emotional problems that expressed as aggression or other developmental issues. Growing up in an orphanage is never easy, but you could usually instantly tell if a child was born in the orphanage or came there later (even as young as one year with parents made a huge difference).
It was one of the most heartbreaking things I've ever experienced in my life, and even more than a decade later thinking about that orphanage makes me want to cry.