The controversial book Babywise by Gary Ezzo has recently come to my attention. After reading the book, along with websites, reviews and articles against it, I became aware of the real potential danger this can bring to newborns if their parents follow the advice given in this book.
From my searches online, it seems that people are either very pro-Babywise or very anti-Babywise. I fall under anti-Babywise and like many others, I want to try to spread the word - whether it makes any difference or not.
Over the past week or so, I have been writing down all my thoughts and research findings into an article/essay. I wanted to get it posted online, and the easiest way to do this for free was to create a new blog to post it on. I won't be adding to the blog, but this format allowed me to link to several sources, as well as have comments from the readers.
Whether you have kids or not, have heard of or are practicing Babywise or not, please read what I wrote so that you can be aware of the dangers in this book, and so that you can pass this information on to anyone else you come across that is pro-Babywise.
Here is the blog.
2 comments:
I think that there is a severe lack of common sense in some of these parents that didn't feed there child because it "wasn't time." I used the schedule method in this book with both of my children and I can assure you that neither of my chubby checked kids are failing to thrive. You have to use this book as anything as a guide and advice not this is the only way to do it attitude. We used the feed, keep them awake, and then sleep schedule with our kids and did not let them "cry it out" until they were older and weighed enough to sleep through the night which according to the pediatrician is about 12 pounds. I think that you should consider the source of some of these comments and reviews and not start a mass histaria like Jenny McCarthy and her crusade against vaccinations and linking them to austism. I firmly believe that Mom's are designed to know their children and should read to get helpful hints on how to find your way as a first time mom....it is tough!
Thanks for your comment. You’re right, being a first-time mom is hard, and we need to use common sense, as well as maternal instinct and pediatric advice when deciding how to help our kids stay healthy and thrive. The problem is that Ezzo’s way of writing seems to urge mothers to ignore all three of those.
My purpose in writing this blog is to get as many parents as I can reach to be aware of the dangers so that they realize they *need* to add in common sense when reading Babywise (a lot of people take anything in writing to be the gospel truth). I certainly don’t mean to feed any sort of hysteria, but I think parents need to know that this book--when it is used “correctly” (meaning “completely the way Ezzo presents it”)--can be dangerous.
I think it's perfectly fine to go into the book and just pick out the good stuff, but unfortunately, I don't think all will do that. The way Ezzo talks, he makes his method seem superior to all others, and he implies that you need to use his book as a whole in order for it to work. As you know from experience, that isn’t necessarily true, but some new, inexperienced mothers will take his "authoritative" word on it and not deviate from what he teaches.
And even if those mothers are a tiny minority compared with all the other moms who add common sense to his book, like you did, then I still think it's worth writing a warning to those particular mothers. That’s why I'm convinced that a book like this shouldn't be out there to add to the confusion.
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