Generations later, parents still heed Dr. Spock's advice

NEW YORK -- Babies born today aren't much different from babies born in 1943, but the world they're born into has seen many changes.

That's why the eighth edition of "Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care" (Pocket Books) lists Dr. Robert Needlman's name right along with that of the late Dr. Benjamin Spock as authors. Needlman has brought the world's most popular parenting book in line with the times to address issues that Spock, who died in 1998 at age 94, couldn't even imagine: terrorism, managing the media, gay parenting and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder among them.

Spock's underlying message that mothers and fathers should trust themselves is as relevant now as it was when Spock first wrote his advice in longhand by the light of a Coleman lantern, says his widow, Mary Morgan. But if the book was going to remain the standard-bearer that it became, it had to broaden its reach.

"One new topic that Ben would be so happy to see is readiness in reading. Ben was really interested in helping parents with education, learning and school, and now the book will help you know when they (children) are ready to read. There is an actual physiological change that Ben knew in his heart but Robert can really explain," Morgan says.

She says both Spock and Needlman, who founded the national Reach Out and Read program, believe that kids are best suited to decide when it's time for them to read, just like they know when they're ready to walk or be potty-trained.

She adds: "Kids have the right decisions inside them, and parents need to be sensitive to them and be there to give the right guidance."

The other feature of the eighth edition that Morgan particularly likes is the 20-page resource guide at the end of the book that lists advocacy and nonprofit groups and their Web sites. Spock was a stickler for indexing and cross-referencing, she says.

Changes in care

This version marks the biggest changes in "Baby and Child Care" since the early 1970s, when Spock -- at the urging of Gloria Steinem -- rewrote every page of text to remove every reference to "mother" as the caregiver and insert "parents" instead.

Needlman says the field of developmental behavioral pediatrics, which is his own specialty, has grown over the past few years in large part because of the ideas Spock raised.

Spock recognized that not all ailments children suffer were caused by infectious diseases, which had been the prevailing theory, and he emphasized the physiological issues that parents had been talking about for years but that the medical community had been reluctant to tackle, Needlman explains.

In fact, up to 40 percent of the visits to pediatricians' offices are for behavioral or developmental issues, according to the Cleveland-based doctor.

"Medicine and science are becoming more receptive to the importance of 'parenting' but you have to use the right language with us doctors," he says with a laugh. Needlman also notes that Spock encouraged medical professionals to adopt a thoughtful bedside manner because children -- and their parents -- often seem to react as well to that as traditional medicine.

Needlman never met Spock, though he says their life paths "worked in similar ways."

Both were English majors at Yale University, then turned to medicine and then specifically to children, and they both spent many years teaching and researching at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio.

Parenting partnerships

But their greatest similarity is their shared belief that parents are pediatricians' best partners in raising healthy children.

"This is all about helping parents change to become more confident and more comfortable parents ... about helping parents see the answer they already know, but when you're in the middle of things, you don't always see the obvious solution," he says. "('Baby and Child Care') is an important mix of telling parents what to do, suggesting to parents what to do and reassuring parents that what they're doing is right."

There is an effort to bring a human element to the pages of the book with classic Spock nuggets, his stories of the people and situations he encountered throughout his more than 60 years as a doctor.

Publisher Pocket Books first came to Spock in 1938 and asked him to do a book, but he politely refused because he felt with only five years under his belt as a pediatrician, he didn't have the anecdotes that would help readers bring his advice to life, Morgan says. However, once he felt armed with enough feedback from parents, he was eager to unite parents in their stories of love, concern and the occasional mistake.

The book clicked. "Baby and Child Care" boasts more than 50 million copies, making it second only to the bible in U.S. book sales, and it's been translated into 39 languages.

Over the decades, Spock rode two completely sociological waves and his advice survived. "When Ben started out, society was so strict with children, then the pendulum swung to be so permissive. He had to take to the middle both times. His advice was consistent, it was the times that changed," Morgan says.

When he died, The Associated Press said, "Practically the entire baby boom generation was raised according to Spock's compassionate, commonsense approach to bringing up baby."

Morgan says her husband's mission was to help parents make informed choices but also realize that there is no single right way to raise a child.

He also worried about the overprotective ways of some parents -- which were mostly likely caused by relying too heavily on their pediatrician.