Information Regarding On Becoming Babywise

By Annabelle Holman


Parents, especially first-time parents, do not always know the best way to care for their child. Every child is different and might have its own needs when it comes to certain things, including sleeping. Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam are the authors who wrote the controversial book On Becoming Babywise, which is supposed to be about giving an infant the gift of sleep.

The book was first published by Multnomah Books, later it become self-published by Parent-Wise Solutions, which is the publishing company owned by Ezzo. Thousands of copies have been purchased of this book. Ezzo is known for his role as an evangelical Christian advisor and Bucknam is a professional pediatrician. This was originally used as a resource for those in the church needing information on how to rear babies.

In this book, the authors suggest the use of an infant care program. Through this, the baby will be able to sleep completely through the night start around the age of seven to nine weeks. As many know, infants usually wake up multiple times. The emphasis with the plan is on parental control and not allowing the child to decide when things are done.

This concept is what brought a lot of criticism to the parenting book. This came from professionals, such as pediatricians, as well as parents. Their concern was that teaching people to rear an infant based on the advice of the book could lead to a higher risk of the child having emotional disorders, malnutrition and overall, failure to thrive.

Bucknam was recruited by Ezzo to make the book more secular. The newer edition with both writers was officially released in the first half of the 1990s. It was followed by four editions that published between the years of 1995 and 2007. This work talks about an infant management plan, based on the play, sleeping and feed cycles of infants, called parent-directed feeding or PDF.

In this book, there are directions related to caring for infants from birth up to six months old. It primarily covers topics of feeding and infant sleep. There is emphasis placed on parental control with infant training. According to the work, a baby is not to define the center of the household. Rather, they are just welcomed add-ons to the household who should follow with the order of the house. The things discussed in this book are not radical or new and might even be considered restatement of what Evangelical parents and even secular parents have been doing all along.

The two authors have said that their stance is in the middle between feeding based on a strict schedule and doing so to meet the demand of the baby. They also do not condone the act of co-sleeping. The advice given in this book is similar to that given by other publications.

Most of the criticism comes from professionals in the medical industry. These individuals say this is filled with incorrect information related to the feeding, growth, development and sleep pattern of infants. Still, there are people who might find this work resourceful. Everyone has his or her own opinion about how a child should be raised. It is worth noting that all children are different and will respond in their own way to various forms of rearing.




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