Facts About On Becoming Babywise Book

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 originally published by Multnomah Books, but is self-published through Parent-Wise Solutions, the publishing company of Ezzo himself. More than 200,000 copies have been purchased. Ezzo is an evangelical Christian adviser and Bucknam, a pediatrician. This was initially used as a church-based resource with information on how to raise an infant.

In the book, the writers suggest an infant care program. With this, the authors say, the baby will sleep through the night from the age of 7-9 weeks and beyond that. As many are aware, infants tend to wake up several times throughout the night and morning to get fed. With the program, emphasis is placed on parental control of a baby's play, feeding and sleep schedule instead of allowing the child to decide when it want to eat, play and sleep.

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.

Ezzo recruited Bucknam to make the book more secular. The new edition with both authors was released in 1993. Other newer editions were published in 1995, 1998, 2001 and 2007. Babywise discusses an infant management plan that is built around the sleep, play and feed cycles of babies. The authors call this PDF or parent-directed feeding.

In the book there are instructions on caring for the infants from their date of birth up through six months of age. It mostly covers the topic of infant sleep, as well as feeding. There is emphasis on parental control when it comes to infant training. According to the book, the baby is not to be the defining center of a household but instead, an addition that is subject to the house's order. The concepts discussed in this piece are not new or radical but are a re-articulation of methods used by Evangelical parents of the past and even advisors who are secular.

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.

There are critics of this work, mostly those in the health care field who believe this includes misinformation on infant sleep, growth, development and feeding. Still, some might get help from this. Many opinions exist regarding how to raise a child. It is important to note that every child is different and will respond in his or her own to rearing.




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