Babywise
Encyclopedia
On Becoming Baby Wise: Giving Your Infant the Gift of Nighttime Sleep is a controversial book by evangelical Christian
adviser Gary Ezzo and conservative Christian
pediatrician Robert Bucknam about raising an infant. Formerly published by Multnomah Books, Baby Wise is currently self-published through Ezzo's own publishing company, Parent-Wise Solutions; approximately 250,000 copies have been sold. The book grew out of a church-based parenting book written by Ezzo and his wife as they raised two children.
Baby Wise presents an infant care program which the authors say will cause babies to sleep through the night beginning between seven and nine weeks of age. It emphasizes parental control of the infant's sleep, play and feeding schedule rather than allowing the baby to decide when to eat, play and sleep.
The Baby Wise program outlined in the book has come under criticism from a number of pediatricians and parents who are concerned that an infant reared using the book's advice will be at higher risk of failure to thrive
, malnutrition
, and emotional disorders.
in New York state, but he did not earn a degree. In 1983, Ezzo enrolled full-time at Talbot School of Theology
in a program aimed at giving a Master of Arts degree in Christian ministry to people who did not hold a lower degree, but had been active in ministry for two years. In 1984, Ezzo and his wife Anne Marie Ezzo began teaching parenting classes at Grace Community Church
in Sun Valley, California; a 10,000-member megachurch for evangelical Christians. Anne Marie Ezzo was raising two children at the time and for a short while trained as a nurse in a hospital pediatric unit.
In 1984, Anne Marie Ezzo wrote a four-page paper titled "Parent Controlled Feeding". In 1985, Ezzo received his Master of Arts degree from Talbot; the degree emphasized Christian Education. Subsequently, the Ezzos continued to research early parenting and with five other couples formed Growing Families International (GFI), beginning as a non-profit in 1987 and becoming a for-profit in 1989. Based on the earlier paper the Ezzos wrote a Christian parenting guide for GFI: Preparation for Parenting: Bringing God's Order to Your Baby's Day and Restful Sleep to Your Baby's Night. The book was published in 1990. Grace Community Church was initially supportive of the Ezzos and their parenting ministry but in 1997 after four years of concerned discussion, the church reversed its official position, criticizing the Ezzos for creating a divisive atmosphere between parents who followed the book's practices and those who favored demand feeding for infants, sleeping with their infants, and sling-type carriers for babies. The church elders banned the GFI books for "stifling the mother's desire to comfort her children", for ascribing Biblical qualities to the concept of scheduled feeding, and for failing to address the church's concerns regarding theological issues such as human depravity
(the belief that all people are born in slavery to the service of sin) and regeneration
(the belief that people can experience spiritual rebirth in Christ). The Ezzos left the church along with a few sympathetic families.
The infant-rearing research the Ezzos conducted was performed by GFI and not published or subject to peer review. In training the infant to follow the book's recommended eating and sleeping schedule, it was expected that at certain times the infant would be left alone to cry when hungry or wakeful. The book justified the act of leaving a baby to cry alone by comparing that choice to the crucifixion of Jesus: "Praise God that the Father did not intervene when His Son cried out on the cross." The Ezzos wrote that leaving the infant "crying for 15, 20, even 30 minutes is not going to hurt your baby physically or emotionally." To counter the book's conclusions, Laura Bassi Zaff, PhD, an expert in childhood cognitive development, wrote that careful research has shown that leaving a baby crying may result in emotional harm, perhaps manifesting as "attachment disorder, or anxiety disorder, or crippling problems with self esteem and interpersonal relationships".
(SIDS) is not heightened by placing the baby to sleep on its belly, and removing the notion that feeding the baby whenever it appears hungry will give the mother "an abnormal hormonal condition" which could lead to postpartum depression
.
The book includes instructions for the care of babies from birth through six months. It primarily covers infant sleep and feeding practices, and emphasizes parental control of infant training. The infant is presented not as the defining center of the household but as a "welcome addition", subject to larger household order. The material presented in Baby Wise is not radical or new, it is simply a re-articulation of various practical methods which are reminiscent of parenting styles advocated by other Evangelical child-rearing advisors.
Ezzo and Bucknam describe their stance as a middle ground between feeding the baby on demand (when the baby indicates hunger) and feeding based on a strict clock schedule. In contrast to advice given by popular pediatrician William "Dr. Bill" Sears
, the Baby Wise authors do not condone co-sleeping
; Ezzo wrote, "The most serious sleep problems we've encountered are associated with parents who sleep with their babies."
The sleep advice given by Baby Wise is similar to Richard Ferber
's advice given in his popular book Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems. The Ferber method
of getting a baby to sleep includes putting the baby to bed when awake; the same as Baby Wise. The baby is expected to learn how to fall asleep alone. Both methods warn the parents against using aids such as a pacifier
to ease the baby into sleep, and both methods describe putting the infant to sleep without prior rocking, cuddling or nursing applied for the sole purpose of calming the child into sleep. "Crying it out" is expected from the infant during the early training periods, until about eight weeks of age.
A foundation of the book is that "great marriages produce great parents." Ezzo and Bucknam recommend that the new parents continue with their lives much as before the baby arrived, scheduling dates with each other and having friends over.
Buyers of the book include mothers wearied by the demands of attachment parenting
, in search of more time for their careers and pursuits. The book promises that following its plan "will not leave mom ragged at the end of the day nor in bondage to her child. Nor will Dad be excluded from his duties."
, MD, FAAP, Professor Emeritas, Harvard Medical School
, developer of the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale
; and Arnold Tanis, MD, FAAP, Past President, Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics
. The Baby Wise program has been associated with infantile failure to thrive
, dehydration
, malnutrition
, problems with milk supply in breastfeeding
mothers, and involuntary early weaning
.
Ferber method founder Richard Ferber, MD, Director of the Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders at Children's Hospital Boston
, concurs with Baby Wise regarding some of its sleep advice, but he warns against expecting too much. Baby Wise predicts that the 8-week-old child will be sleeping 7 to 8 hours in a row at night, and the 13-week-old child increasing the nighttime sleep period to as much as 11 hours. Ferber said, "Parents shouldn't expect babies to sleep that long that early, although a very few will on their own". Ferber says that the book may frustrate parents of babies that are not sleeping so much; the parents may wonder what is wrong with the infant. Ferber says that if a baby sleeps through the night, the parents may actually need to wake it for feeding.
In 1998, "Dr. Bill" Sears, evangelical author, pediatrician, and clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of USC
, best known as the foremost proponent of attachment parenting, said of the Baby Wise book, "People began calling me about the stuff in this book several years ago, but I basically ignored it, thinking that it was so far out that it would just die out." Sears regretted not speaking out earlier against Baby Wise. He said about the book that it was "probably the most dangerous program of teaching about babies and children that I have seen in my 25 years of being a pediatrician."
After noticing the controversy surrounding the book and investigating complaints about the medical advice it gives to new parents, Multnomah Books stopped publishing the text in September 2001. They returned the book rights to GFI. Subsequent printings have been produced by Parent-Wise Solutions, an imprint formed by the Ezzos to publish their books.
Many of Ezzo's former Christian allies turned into detractors of Baby Wise. Others hold different positions. Evangelical Christian author James Dobson
, founder of the Focus on the Family
ministry, commented on the controversial book, saying "I've never attacked it, but I don't endorse it ... I'm not out campaigning against the Ezzos; I'm just not their greatest fan."
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
adviser Gary Ezzo and conservative Christian
Conservative Christianity
Conservative Christianity is a term applied to a number of groups or movements seen as giving priority to traditional Christian beliefs and practices...
pediatrician Robert Bucknam about raising an infant. Formerly published by Multnomah Books, Baby Wise is currently self-published through Ezzo's own publishing company, Parent-Wise Solutions; approximately 250,000 copies have been sold. The book grew out of a church-based parenting book written by Ezzo and his wife as they raised two children.
Baby Wise presents an infant care program which the authors say will cause babies to sleep through the night beginning between seven and nine weeks of age. It emphasizes parental control of the infant's sleep, play and feeding schedule rather than allowing the baby to decide when to eat, play and sleep.
The Baby Wise program outlined in the book has come under criticism from a number of pediatricians and parents who are concerned that an infant reared using the book's advice will be at higher risk of failure to thrive
Failure to thrive
Failure to thrive is a medical term which is used in both pediatric and adult human medicine, as well as veterinary medicine ....
, malnutrition
Malnutrition
Malnutrition is the condition that results from taking an unbalanced diet in which certain nutrients are lacking, in excess , or in the wrong proportions....
, and emotional disorders.
Religious
In the late 1960s, Gary Ezzo studied at Mohawk Valley Community CollegeMohawk Valley Community College
Mohawk Valley Community College is a two-year college of the State University of New York located in Oneida County, New York in the United States...
in New York state, but he did not earn a degree. In 1983, Ezzo enrolled full-time at Talbot School of Theology
Talbot School of Theology
Talbot School of Theology is a non-denominational, conservative evangelical Christian theological seminary located near Los Angeles. Talbot is one of the seven schools that comprise Biola University, located in La Mirada, California.-History:...
in a program aimed at giving a Master of Arts degree in Christian ministry to people who did not hold a lower degree, but had been active in ministry for two years. In 1984, Ezzo and his wife Anne Marie Ezzo began teaching parenting classes at Grace Community Church
Grace Community Church (California)
Grace Community Church is a non-denominational, evangelical megachurch located in Sun Valley, California. John MacArthur is the pastor-teacher of the congregation, founded in 1956...
in Sun Valley, California; a 10,000-member megachurch for evangelical Christians. Anne Marie Ezzo was raising two children at the time and for a short while trained as a nurse in a hospital pediatric unit.
In 1984, Anne Marie Ezzo wrote a four-page paper titled "Parent Controlled Feeding". In 1985, Ezzo received his Master of Arts degree from Talbot; the degree emphasized Christian Education. Subsequently, the Ezzos continued to research early parenting and with five other couples formed Growing Families International (GFI), beginning as a non-profit in 1987 and becoming a for-profit in 1989. Based on the earlier paper the Ezzos wrote a Christian parenting guide for GFI: Preparation for Parenting: Bringing God's Order to Your Baby's Day and Restful Sleep to Your Baby's Night. The book was published in 1990. Grace Community Church was initially supportive of the Ezzos and their parenting ministry but in 1997 after four years of concerned discussion, the church reversed its official position, criticizing the Ezzos for creating a divisive atmosphere between parents who followed the book's practices and those who favored demand feeding for infants, sleeping with their infants, and sling-type carriers for babies. The church elders banned the GFI books for "stifling the mother's desire to comfort her children", for ascribing Biblical qualities to the concept of scheduled feeding, and for failing to address the church's concerns regarding theological issues such as human depravity
Total depravity
Total depravity is a theological doctrine that derives from the Augustinian concept of original sin...
(the belief that all people are born in slavery to the service of sin) and regeneration
Regeneration (theology)
Regeneration, while sometimes perceived to be a step in the Ordo salutis , is generally understood in Christian theology to be the objective work of God in a believer's life. Spiritually, it means that God brings Christians to new life from a previous state of subjection to the decay of death...
(the belief that people can experience spiritual rebirth in Christ). The Ezzos left the church along with a few sympathetic families.
The infant-rearing research the Ezzos conducted was performed by GFI and not published or subject to peer review. In training the infant to follow the book's recommended eating and sleeping schedule, it was expected that at certain times the infant would be left alone to cry when hungry or wakeful. The book justified the act of leaving a baby to cry alone by comparing that choice to the crucifixion of Jesus: "Praise God that the Father did not intervene when His Son cried out on the cross." The Ezzos wrote that leaving the infant "crying for 15, 20, even 30 minutes is not going to hurt your baby physically or emotionally." To counter the book's conclusions, Laura Bassi Zaff, PhD, an expert in childhood cognitive development, wrote that careful research has shown that leaving a baby crying may result in emotional harm, perhaps manifesting as "attachment disorder, or anxiety disorder, or crippling problems with self esteem and interpersonal relationships".
Secular
To create a secular version of the book, Gary Ezzo partnered with Robert Bucknam, a pediatrician from Denver, Colorado, to write On Becoming Babywise: More Than a Survival Guide which appeared in 1993. Ezzo and Bucknam wrote a new edition published in 1995: On Becoming Baby Wise: Learn How Over 100,000 Babies Were Trained to Sleep Through the Night the Natural Way—this edition used the single word "Babywise", later split into two words: "Baby Wise". Further editions of the book were published in 1998, 2001 and 2007. Changes in the later editions include removing the assertion that the risk of sudden infant death syndromeSudden infant death syndrome
Sudden infant death syndrome is marked by the sudden death of an infant that is unexpected by medical history, and remains unexplained after a thorough forensic autopsy and a detailed death scene investigation. An infant is at the highest risk for SIDS during sleep, which is why it is sometimes...
(SIDS) is not heightened by placing the baby to sleep on its belly, and removing the notion that feeding the baby whenever it appears hungry will give the mother "an abnormal hormonal condition" which could lead to postpartum depression
Postpartum depression
Postpartum depression , also called postnatal depression, is a form of clinical depression which can affect women, and less frequently men, typically after childbirth. Studies report prevalence rates among women from 5% to 25%, but methodological differences among the studies make the actual...
.
Summary
Baby Wise describes an infant management plan built around feed/play/sleep cycles. The authors term their approach to feeding "parent-directed feeding", or PDF:The book includes instructions for the care of babies from birth through six months. It primarily covers infant sleep and feeding practices, and emphasizes parental control of infant training. The infant is presented not as the defining center of the household but as a "welcome addition", subject to larger household order. The material presented in Baby Wise is not radical or new, it is simply a re-articulation of various practical methods which are reminiscent of parenting styles advocated by other Evangelical child-rearing advisors.
Ezzo and Bucknam describe their stance as a middle ground between feeding the baby on demand (when the baby indicates hunger) and feeding based on a strict clock schedule. In contrast to advice given by popular pediatrician William "Dr. Bill" Sears
William Sears (physician)
William Penton Sears is an American pediatrician and the author or co-author of more than 30 parenting books, most notably several in the "Sears Parenting Library." He is a frequent guest on television talkshows, where he goes by the name Dr. Bill...
, the Baby Wise authors do not condone co-sleeping
Co-sleeping
Co-sleeping is a practice in which babies and young children sleep close to one or both parents, as opposed to in a separate room. It is standard practice in many parts of the world, and is practiced by a significant minority in countries where cribs are also used...
; Ezzo wrote, "The most serious sleep problems we've encountered are associated with parents who sleep with their babies."
The sleep advice given by Baby Wise is similar to Richard Ferber
Richard Ferber
Dr. Richard Ferber is the director of The Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders, at Children's Hospital Boston. He has been researching sleep and sleep disorders in children for over 20 years...
's advice given in his popular book Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems. The Ferber method
Ferber method
The Ferber Method is a technique invented by Dr. Richard Ferber to solve infant sleep problems. It involves "baby-training" children to self-soothe by allowing the child to cry for a predetermined amount of time before receiving external comfort.-"Cry it out":...
of getting a baby to sleep includes putting the baby to bed when awake; the same as Baby Wise. The baby is expected to learn how to fall asleep alone. Both methods warn the parents against using aids such as a pacifier
Pacifier
A pacifier is a rubber, plastic, or silicone nipple given to an infant or other young child to suck upon. In its standard appearance it has a teat, mouth shield, and handle...
to ease the baby into sleep, and both methods describe putting the infant to sleep without prior rocking, cuddling or nursing applied for the sole purpose of calming the child into sleep. "Crying it out" is expected from the infant during the early training periods, until about eight weeks of age.
A foundation of the book is that "great marriages produce great parents." Ezzo and Bucknam recommend that the new parents continue with their lives much as before the baby arrived, scheduling dates with each other and having friends over.
Buyers of the book include mothers wearied by the demands of attachment parenting
Attachment parenting
Attachment parenting, a phrase coined by pediatrician William Sears, is a parenting philosophy based on the principles of the attachment theory in developmental psychology. According to attachment theory, the child forms a strong emotional bond with caregivers during childhood with lifelong...
, in search of more time for their careers and pursuits. The book promises that following its plan "will not leave mom ragged at the end of the day nor in bondage to her child. Nor will Dad be excluded from his duties."
Criticism
Baby Wise has been criticized by mainstream health care professionals for giving dangerously wrong information regarding infant growth, feeding, sleep and development. Critics include, for example, Dr. T. Berry BrazeltonT. Berry Brazelton
Thomas Berry Brazelton is a noted pediatrician and author in the United States. Major hospitals throughout the world use the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale . Many parents know him as the host of a cable television program What Every Baby Knows, and as author of a syndicated...
, MD, FAAP, Professor Emeritas, Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
, developer of the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale
Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale
The Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale was developed in 1973 by Dr. T. Berry Brazelton and his colleagues. It evaluates a wide range of 38 behaviors to build a behavioral profile of an infant up to 2 months old. This approach was innovative for recognizing that a baby is a highly-developed...
; and Arnold Tanis, MD, FAAP, Past President, Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics
American Academy of Pediatrics
The American Academy of Pediatrics is the major professional association of pediatricians in the United States. The AAP was founded in 1930 by 35 pediatricians to address pediatric healthcare standards. It currently has 60,000 members in primary care and sub-specialist areas...
. The Baby Wise program has been associated with infantile failure to thrive
Failure to thrive
Failure to thrive is a medical term which is used in both pediatric and adult human medicine, as well as veterinary medicine ....
, dehydration
Dehydration
In physiology and medicine, dehydration is defined as the excessive loss of body fluid. It is literally the removal of water from an object; however, in physiological terms, it entails a deficiency of fluid within an organism...
, malnutrition
Malnutrition
Malnutrition is the condition that results from taking an unbalanced diet in which certain nutrients are lacking, in excess , or in the wrong proportions....
, problems with milk supply in breastfeeding
Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding is the feeding of an infant or young child with breast milk directly from female human breasts rather than from a baby bottle or other container. Babies have a sucking reflex that enables them to suck and swallow milk. It is recommended that mothers breastfeed for six months or...
mothers, and involuntary early weaning
Weaning
Weaning is the process of gradually introducing a mammal infant, either human or animal, to what will be its adult diet and withdrawing the supply of its mother's milk.The process takes place only in mammals, as only mammals produce milk...
.
Ferber method founder Richard Ferber, MD, Director of the Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders at Children's Hospital Boston
Children's Hospital Boston
Children's Hospital Boston is a 396-licensed bed children's hospital in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area of Boston, Massachusetts.At 300 Longwood Avenue, Children's is adjacent both to its teaching affiliate, Harvard Medical School, and to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute...
, concurs with Baby Wise regarding some of its sleep advice, but he warns against expecting too much. Baby Wise predicts that the 8-week-old child will be sleeping 7 to 8 hours in a row at night, and the 13-week-old child increasing the nighttime sleep period to as much as 11 hours. Ferber said, "Parents shouldn't expect babies to sleep that long that early, although a very few will on their own". Ferber says that the book may frustrate parents of babies that are not sleeping so much; the parents may wonder what is wrong with the infant. Ferber says that if a baby sleeps through the night, the parents may actually need to wake it for feeding.
In 1998, "Dr. Bill" Sears, evangelical author, pediatrician, and clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of USC
Keck School of Medicine of USC
The Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California is a major center of medical research, education and patient care. Founded in 1885, the Keck School of Medicine is the oldest medical school in Southern California.Located on the university’s Health Sciences campus three miles ...
, best known as the foremost proponent of attachment parenting, said of the Baby Wise book, "People began calling me about the stuff in this book several years ago, but I basically ignored it, thinking that it was so far out that it would just die out." Sears regretted not speaking out earlier against Baby Wise. He said about the book that it was "probably the most dangerous program of teaching about babies and children that I have seen in my 25 years of being a pediatrician."
After noticing the controversy surrounding the book and investigating complaints about the medical advice it gives to new parents, Multnomah Books stopped publishing the text in September 2001. They returned the book rights to GFI. Subsequent printings have been produced by Parent-Wise Solutions, an imprint formed by the Ezzos to publish their books.
Many of Ezzo's former Christian allies turned into detractors of Baby Wise. Others hold different positions. Evangelical Christian author James Dobson
James Dobson
James Clayton "Jim" Dobson, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian author, psychologist, and founder in 1977 of Focus on the Family , which he led until 2003. In the 1980s he was ranked as one of the most influential spokesman for conservative social positions in American public life...
, founder of the Focus on the Family
Focus on the Family
Focus on the Family is an American evangelical Christian tax-exempt non-profit organization founded in 1977 by psychologist James Dobson, and is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Focus on the Family is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations that rose to prominence in the 1980s...
ministry, commented on the controversial book, saying "I've never attacked it, but I don't endorse it ... I'm not out campaigning against the Ezzos; I'm just not their greatest fan."