This book, method and author have been resoundingly condemned by a plethora of leading experts, for instance: The American Academy of Pediatrics (you can find their statement if you do a quick search at www.aap.org), Focus on the Family and Dr. James Dobson, well respected parenting and family life expert. I generally do not look into the character of authors I read, but when someone is telling me how to raise my precious children (I have three), I do want to know exactly what sort of person and parent they are. A quick search of newspaper archives or the internet shows that Gary Ezzo has been followed by scandal.

A little research into Mr. Ezzos credentials shows that his claims of being an ordained pastor with experience pastoring at least one church, and of holding theological degrees, is completely fabricated. No church will claim him, and no theological college has any record of his ever attending, much less receiving degrees. It is no crime not to be a pastor, or not to hold theological degrees. But why would someone make up those things if it weren’t true. Certainly many people without those credentials have written fine books about parenting, why does Mr.Ezzo feel a need to make these things up? It raises a red flag in my mind, and I feel his book should be looked at with extreme caution.

Gary Ezzo reduces parenting to lists of do’s and don’ts. This would work if babies were machines. But they are not. His feeding schedules are considered medically dangerous, producing a fair number of malnourished babies. His methods of ignoring a babies cry are known to lead to depression and attachment disorder. He teaches parents to ignore their basic parenting instincts and stick to his schedule instead. He claims that parenting instincts don’t exist. Well, I have three sons, and I can tell you that my parenting instincts are alive and well, and helping me each and every day to be the best parent I can be. According to Dr. William Sears, Dr. Jack Newman and Dr James Dobson (all of whom have verifiable credentials and have published excellent books on the same topics covered in Babywise) parenting instincts are an extremely important aid in child rearing.

As someone who herself holds a verifiable theological degree, I find Gary Ezzos claim that his methods are biblical offensive. If one takes a verse here and there out of context one can prove about anything. If one looks at Scripture as a whole, it is quickly apparent that Babywise methods are extremely opposite to the scriptural model of the parent child relationship that is modeled for us by God the Father Himself. He is open, loving and extremely flexible. God hears our cries, and never ignores us. He meets us when we cry, not later at some predetermined hour.

I have known children raised by this method, and the results are absolutely horrible. True the children are quiet, but since when are healthy children supposed to be quiet? These children tend to stare off into space, and if you spare them a bit of attention hardly know what to do with it. One mother remarked of her Ezzo baby "I hardly know he's there, he's a good baby". Why have children if you don't even know they are there? What kind of relationship is that? I don't measure how "good" my children are by how much noise they make. I don't measure my success as a parent by how quickly they quit bugging me so I can sleep through the night without interruption. . There is so much more to parenting than schedules and pushing your children out of your life as quickly as you can. Babywise completely misses and undermines all the most rewarding and exciting parts of parenting.

Recommended: No