On Becoming Baby Wise

On Becoming Baby Wise: Giving Your Infant the Gift of Nighttime Sleep
A couple holding a baby and smiling
First edition cover
AuthorsGary Ezzo
Robert Bucknam
LanguageEnglish
SubjectEarly parenting
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint
Pages160 (1993)
279 (2012)

On Becoming Baby Wise: Giving Your Infant the Gift of Nighttime Sleep is a Christianity-based infant management book written by Gary Ezzo and pediatrician Robert Bucknam in 1993.[1] 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 came under criticism from pediatricians and parents who were concerned that an infant reared using the book's advice will be at higher risk of failure to thrive, malnutrition, and emotional disorders.[2][3][4][5] The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) warned against the book, stating that its advice could result in infant development problems such as dehydration, poor weight gain, slow growth, delayed development and failure to thrive, as well as lack of milk supply in the new mother and involuntary weaning of the infant. The Babywise series of books was observed to be in direct contradiction to the AAP's own policy statement, "Breastfeeding and the Use of Human Milk," which recommends 8–12 nursing sessions every 24 hours for newborns, feeding until the baby is sated.[5]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Niesslein2008 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Kranz, Cindy (1999). "Brazelton Answers: Our Parents' Panel of Questions for Child Development Expert". Cincinnati Enquirer. 5.
  3. ^ Granju, Katie Allison (August 6, 1998). "Getting Wise to Babywise". Salon. Retrieved March 6, 2013.
  4. ^ La Mendola, Bob (June 28, 1997). "Feeding Schedule For Babies Causes Debate". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
  5. ^ a b Aney, Matthew (April 1, 1998). "'Babywise' advice linked to dehydration, failure to thrive". AAP News. 14 (4): 21. Archived from the original on July 24, 2011. Retrieved August 7, 2010.