Have a little faith in yourself

Is the Babywise Method Right For You? What You Should Know About Babywise and Growing Kids God's Way
From birth Johnny Bush "nursed like a champ" and slid right into the Parent Directed Feeding plan recommended by Gary Ezzo in his book "Preparation for Parenting," the first book in the series of parenting books commonly known as "Growing Kids God's Way." ("On Becoming Babywise" is the secular version of "Preparation for Parenting"). "At a well-baby appointment at 3 1/2 months he weighed a hefty 16 lbs.- the 95th percentile on the baby charts," says his mother, Alexandra Bush, a previous Preparation for Parenting instructor. But by the next appointment his weight had dropped to 14 lbs. 2 oz. "causing red flags to come up at the pediatrician's office." The following weeks were grueling, as specialists tried to determine the reason for Johnny's weight loss. Alexandra quit nursing "cold turkey" and Johnny was placed on a calorie dense formula.

"Johnny was weighed every other day that first week, and then once a week for several months," says Alexandra. "Follow up appointments with my pediatrician and phone consultations with the specialists led us to forego further testing." For Johnny's parents, the diagnosis was shocking: "Failure To Thrive" (FTT) due to insufficient calorie intake. "I had starved my baby," says Alexandra.

Alexandra and John Bush...eventually discovered that their experience with Gary Ezzo's Parent Directed Feeding plan was not unique.

Thanks to Tulip Girl for the link.

It just burns me up that this man continues to pray on well meaning parents. Generations of Christian men and women have raised Godly children with out the "help" of Gary Ezzo. Everything I have ever read about what this man believes has seemed totally backwards and just plain un-Christian. (I read one of the Babywise books once just so I would know what I was disagreeing with.) Unfortunately many of today's parents are deceived into thinking that Ezzo has anything useful or beneficial to offer to them about raising children.

In days past people learned how to be parents by watching their parents, relatives, and friends be parents. That's how I learned and am still learning. I am constantly amazed by the loving care and understanding that so many of the parents (Christian and non-Christian) I know give to their children. These days with little interaction between the different generations parents don't have good role models in their lives for how to be parents.

It doesn't help that getting/staying married is now considered optional for parenting. We have developed a culture where we can't look to our families for help because they are so broken. This leaves people at the mercy of every Tom, Dick, and Gary that gets an idea in their heads and writes a book about how to raise children. Christians are particularly vulnerable because they are under great pressure to raise godly children in such an ungodly world. The pressure to perform is immense and the consequences of failure are devastating. We hear far more of, "Did you hear about what so and so's child did? And they call themselves Christians!" than we hear of, "Did you hear about what so and so's child did? How can we help them deal with it?"

Having said all of that I encourage parents to have a little faith in their God given abilities. We certainly don't need Ezzo's backward ways to raise Godly children, like I said before Christians managed quiet well before he came along. Anyway, that's just my two cents on the matter. Down with Ezzo!!