When I became pregnant, the first thing my husband and I did was scream and hug. The second thing was shop for parenting books.
We didn’t know much about parenting philosophies at that point. I knew I wanted to try to breastfeed and use a baby carrier (both of which I did), and also that I would never ever resort to screentime (HAH!). We ended up picking out Expecting 411 and Baby 411, and loved Dr. Ari Brown’s evidence-based approach.
One parenting book is so controversial that the American Academy of Pediatrics has warned against it—and it’s probably in your local bookstore right now. Gary Ezzo’s On Becoming Babywise recommends a feeding schedule so restrictive that it’s been associated with failure to thrive, dehydration, and breastmilk supply failure. Dr. Matthew Aney wants to stress to parents that the AAP, along with the World Health Organization and the La Leche League, recommends feeding babies on demand.
Key Takeaways:
—Babywise is promoted by some churches, but its feeding recommendations can be harmful to babies and lead to starvation.
—The storage capacities of women’s breasts differ, so the amount of milk one woman might be able to produce in 6 feeding sessions might take another woman 12 sessions to produce.
—Parents sometimes don’t mention the Babywise book, making it difficult for pediatricians to pinpoint the reason for their child’s failure to thrive.
Read more at http://www.ezzo.info/Aney/aapnews.pdf
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