Research/Child Rearing/Infant death
Dr. Spock Caused the Death of 1000’s of Babies
The terrible true story of Dr. Benjamin Spock, M.D.
Who was Dr. Spock? “Benjamin Spock was an American pediatrician and liberal political activist whose book, ‘The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care is one of the best-selling books of the 20th century selling 500,000 copies in the six months after its initial publication in 1946, and 50M by the time of Spock’s death in 1968. This book was translated into 42 languages, but it was not without controversy…
Many people disapproved of his following theories:
- Fathers should be active in raising their children.
- Babies do not need strict schedules.
- Allow babies to sleep on their stomachs.
- Circumcision is traumatic to males.
Before Dr. Spock’s book, parents were instructed to:
- Kiss their children only once a day before bedtime, but only if necessary.
- Adhere to a strict eating schedule. Do not feed a child if he/she is hungry outside the feeding schedule.
- Parents are NOT to give in to their child’s impulses.
- Parents are to trust their doctors, and not rely on their own instincts.
- Crying babies should be left alone and not picked up.
I think my mother had a copy of his book although she, too, went on to raise my sister and me back in the 50s by adopting the authoritarian style she had been raised in. From what I remember of my friends and neighbor kids’ families it seemed most parents didn’t adopt Dr. Spock’s theories either. They all stuck with the ways they had been raised whose roots were in the preceding century as it was commonly believed to do otherwise would produce ‘weak children.’
A little of his background:
Dr. Spock was born on May 2nd, 1903.’' in New Haven, CT. His father was a graduate of Yale and became a successful railroad attorney. His mother came from an affluent background and raised six children with Spock being the oldest. Interestingly enough, they raised their children using the authoritarian style which focused on discipline rather than affection.
If you want to read more about Dr. Spock, visit www.drspock.com for a full view of this famous doctor and his esteemed education and background.
Now can you guess which of his theories got him into trouble? Although several of them angered large segments of society, particularly fundamentalist religious sects; the one where he advised babies should sleep on their stomachs caused the death of thousands of infants…
It seems Dr. Spock didn’t check what little scientific research was available before he wrote his book and so his advice for ‘prone sleeping’ wasn’t dismissed until the 70s. Unfortunately, by that time it’s estimated over 10K infant deaths had already occurred in the UK and at least 50K in Europe, the USA, and Australia. And experts say there were many more of these SIDS deaths that went unreported.
That’s a hell of a lot of baby boomers!
Once his printed advice was amended, and all his following books omitted his theory for prone sleeping, it was noted that a huge drop in infant deaths was seen that now stands as proof that he and his famous book was the main cause of this tragedy and that’s very unfortunate.
Although it may seem like it, I don’t dislike Dr. Spock and I’m not wanting to smear his reputation unnecessarily. I just think it’s important that we know the whole truth about this famous doctor. After reading so much about him, I now believe he was a great pioneer who successfully changed the once harsh, rigid practices that were used for so long in child-rearing that fortunately, few follow today. It’s an interesting side note that we now call most of these parents child abusers?
So how were you raised? Did your parents seem to embrace Dr. Spock’s theories when you were growing up? Please weigh in with your comments.
Thank you for reading and thoughtful writing everyone.
