Reply #8: Both of the latter are indeed much commoner... [View All]

[LeftishBrit]

And inded far from being especially progressive, have been around for quite a while. Anti-vaccination since as long as vaccinations have existed; 'Ferberizing' variants for as long as many families have had houses with enough rooms for the parents and baby to have separate rooms. An ancestor of this was the upbringing style particularly promoted by Sir Truby King in the early 20th century. He was a New Zealand paediatrician who emphasized hygiene and recommended breastfeeding, both of which doubtless helped to produce improvements in the appalling infant mortality rates of that time. But some of his other ideas were fairly loony. Babies should be fed according to a strict four-hourly schedule, and NEVER picked up when they cried in between times, otherwise it would ruin both their character and digestion. 'Your child's best friend is the clock', he wrote in one book. Moreover they should spend most of their waking hours out of doors (in a pram or playpen) and parents should not 'overstimulate' or play with them more than absolutely necessary. The out-of-doors idea might have been quite healthy for New Zealand children; but the poor baby brought up according to Truby King methods in an English winter risked not only emotional and intellectual deprivation, but getting practically frozen.