infantilizing

Verb

infantilize (third-person singular simple present infantilizes, present participle infantilizing, simple past and past participle infantilized)

1. (transitive) To reduce (an adult) to the state or status of an infant.
   • For too long, many of us have sought unity by binding ourselves together with the umbilical cords of dogma. They have done less and less to nurture us in recent years, and more and more to infantilize us.1984 August 18, Scott Tucker, “The Politics of Perversion”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 6, page 8
2. (transitive) To treat (an adult) like a child.