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T A B L E++T A L K

Private vs. public schools: Debate whether where you send your kids makes a difference over the long haul in the Mothers area of Table Talk

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R E C E N T L Y

A thigh of relief
By Mollie Brownstein
Summertime -- and the livin' is easier if your legs don't rub together
(08/05/98)

One step at a time
By Lori Leibovich
Why some stepfamilies flourish and others fail
(08/04/98)

Crossing borders
By Rigoberta Menchú
The famed Mayan activist whose mother and brother were tortured and killed reflects on the family -- and village -- she lost in Guatemala
(08/03/98)

Lusting after "Lolita"
By Justine Brown
A lifelong affair with "Lolita"
(07/31/98)

Reality bites
By Karen Grigsby Bates
By making the irrelevant Mike Tyson case a big PR issue, NOW demonstrates again that it's run by imperious, out-of-touch white women
(07/30/98)

BROWSE THE MOTHERS WHO THINK FEATURE ARCHIVES

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Mamafesto
By Camille Peri
Why it's time
for Mothers Who Think

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GETTING WISE TO "BABYWISE" | PAGE 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
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Although it is the feeding recommendations in "Babywise" that have received the most negative attention, much of the other child-care advice in the books is similarly diametrically opposed to modern pediatric and psychological practice. For example, babies who resist the prescribed napping and bedtime components of the "Babywise" regimen are left to wail alone in their cribs for up to an hour at a stretch in order to "train" them. Play time is highly structured, with ever-increasing portions of a baby's day spent in solitary "roomtime" or "playpen time." According to Ezzo, skills such as "creativity," "mental focusing" and a "sustained attention span" may be "seriously delayed if your child misses out on structured playpen time."

"Once parents have their infant's eating and sleeping patterns under control, it's time to do the same with waketime activities," writes Ezzo. "Playpens are necessary to help parents optimize a child's development."

After babies reach only 6 months of age, parents are instructed to begin punitive disciplinary measures such as "squeezing or swatting" of the child's hands or "isolation" in the crib for "rebellious" infractions including "foolishness," "malicious defiance" or even playing with food on the highchair tray. Ezzo explains to parents that the use of "pain" and "discomfort" can be essential disciplinary tools. After age 2 and a half, children who have a toileting accident are required to clean themselves up.

Despite the plethora of respected research demonstrating the critical importance of early parent-child attachment, "Babywise" breezily dismisses this concept as little more than self-indulgent psychobabble. Thus, parents are told that they can actually harm a child by too much rocking or holding and that they should, at all costs, avoid "emotionalism" in responding to a baby's cries lest parents be held "in bondage" to the child.

"Of course you can harm a baby by picking him or her up too much," asserts Ezzo.

As radical as these recommendations sound, they are actually considerably toned down from those made in earlier editions, in obvious response to many specific complaints by medical professionals. The 1993 and 1995 editions of "Babywise," which are still available in many bookstores, contain dozens of even more bizarre medical claims. Examples include Ezzo's contention that placing an infant to sleep on his stomach is not a risk factor for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and his assertion that mothers who feed their infants more frequently than recommended by the "Babywise" schedule -- renamed a "flexible routine" in the newest edition -- will be plagued by "an abnormal hormonal condition" leading to post-partum depression. Although some of Ezzo's more controversial claims have now been slightly modified, GFI has never publicly retracted earlier misstatements; instead, the most current Babywise speaks of "exciting new information" that has motivated the revisions.

One of Ezzo's fallacies still in circulation is his dangerously inaccurate description of how a new parent should assess a baby's nutritional intake. Earlier editions of "Babywise" advised parents to count wet, but not dirty diapers, a seemingly minor but serious omission, according to certified lactation consultant Jan Barger, the current editor of "Clinical Issues in Lactation."

"Previous editions of 'Babywise' didn't give parents good information on how to judge adequate caloric intake in their infants. This, combined with the book's recommendation for less than optimal numbers of feedings, could have been the cause of many of the cases we have seen of 'Babywise' babies with poor weight gain and a diagnosis of failure to thrive," says Barger, who has served as president of ILCA and as a member of the examining board for lactation consultants' professional certification.

One notable development found in the newest version of "Babywise" is Ezzo's attempt to shore up his advice with supporting documentation. Incredibly, the 1998 edition actually cites the work of Ezzo critics Kathleen Huggins and Kathleen Auerbach as being supportive of Parent Directed Feeding. The book also relies heavily on GFI's own self-conducted, never-before-published studies. Although the phraseology Ezzo uses to describe GFI's "survey" of more than 500 infants leaves an impression of rigorous medical research, no actual peer review process, as defined by the scientific community, was employed. Instead, according to GFI spokesman Mark Severance, the 35 members of GFI's self-selected "medical advisory board" were sent copies of the newest edition of "Babywise" and asked to offer a critique. Reportedly, when asked, at least one advisory board member has been quoted as saying that she never even read the book, while another has stated that he looked at it, but offered no input. In the past, Ezzo has written that GFI has "hundreds of pediatricians" providing the organization with "expert medical advice." However, GFI has never been able to produce such a list.

Upon learning how she has been cited in the latest edition of "Babywise," Auerbach says that her research has been presented to "Babywise" readers inaccurately and out of context. "There is no such thing as an 'average' baby, nor is there such a thing as an 'average routine' that will work for everyone," says Auerbach. "I have seen too many families who tried [PDF] and found that it did nothing but cause heartache for the parents and a baby who not only failed to thrive, but shut down psychologically." Auerbach recalls one infant in particular who, after two months on the "Babywise" program, was not only underweight but listless and unwilling to make eye contact with his mother.

N E X T+P A G E: Disguised child-hate