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Rating: 
Summary: New parents can easily find answers to hundreds of questions
Review: "Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care" (1997 Ed.) is as good as it gets and is still the right book for new parents. Clearly outlined, it's a snap to find answers to the hundreds of questions that trouble new and re-newed parents alike. Explanations are carefully drawn in a straightforward manner that doesn't belittle parents seeking basic information about how to tell the difference between measles and a reaction to a new food. Spock was the first to understand that caring for young children according to strict time schedules was as unpopular with sensitive parents as it was unpleasant for newborns. Each parent has always been encouraged to use his/her own judgment while at the same time keeping ahead of the child. The newly initiated parent is searching for the right technique, a balancing act that becomes even more difficult when a parent must return to the workplace. Spock and Rothenberg have included insights about this transition period in the life of a young family. Still a 10 on my scale.
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Summary: The Final Frontier... of childcare?
Review: Any "Star Trek" fan would not want this book! It turns out it's not about "Star Trek"! It's about Childcare! Who would have guessed? We're loosing power, Scotti!
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Summary: Nothing else as thorough and easy to read
Review: As a second-time mother who's read Dr. Spock, Dr. Brazelton, and Dr. Sears' baby care books, I still reach for Spock whenever I have a question, or an uncertainty about something. This book is extensive in its coverage of both big and little issues, from diapering to feeding, and on into adolescence, ecompassing details as well as emotional aspects of what you're doing, if applicable. I find his philosophies and techniques to be a terrific common sense, middle ground, and reassuring resource. Even if you enjoy other parenting books, this one is a must- sort of an encyclopedia of infant/child issues, as the index is detailed and thorough. Keep this one in your library!
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Summary: BabyLounge.com gives 2 pacifiers (of 5) to Dr. Spock
Review: Dr. Spock was considered the baby care guru in the 1950's and many parents took his advice as the word of the Lord. I have no doubt that after years of research, and of practicing pediatrics, that he is very knowledgeable in the field of baby and childcare. However, the revised edition of his once revered book is not my first choice for obtaining information. This book covers everything under the sun, but perhaps it is too comprehensive and not detailed enough as some of the other books out there. Dr. Spock writes in a condescending tone that sounds more like he is talking to his young children, instead of adults with children seeking information. He is preachy, instead of informative, and speaks in absolutes and generalizations. Getting your baby to sleep through the night is a hot topic where everyone claims to have the solution. I believe that many of the methods have the potential to work, but Dr. Spock's suggestion is cruel and may even border on child abuse. He suggests that you let your baby cry in their crib for as long as it takes until they fall asleep, and that under no circumstances should you go in to check on them. The clincher is his advice that you should not go to your baby even if he vomits because he gets so upset. He says you can clean it up after your baby falls asleep! Maybe Dr. Spock should be claiming he has frontal lobe disorder! If you are looking for a reference book that touches a little bit on everything you can imagine, then this may be the book for you. Otherwise, I think your money is better spent elsewhere.
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Summary: Dr Spock and Baby Wise
Review: His views on a vegetarian diet are right on. I find it sad to read through these reviews and find the sick sort of people who say "oh, I'm an omnivore, so I'm just going to feed my child pieces of dead animals and pretend I'm not malnourishing her." Theer is a good reason Dr. Spock touts vegetarianism. On the other hand . . . he's a paediatrician, not a psychologist. I think parents who have sexual feelings when co-sleeping with their children certainly aren't fit to parent and shouldn't co-sleep with their children. Whereas on the other hand those of us who are normal are perfectly fine to cuddle with our little ones through the night. What normal person equates sleeping with sex, anyway? And further more, one might think that letting one's child cry themselves to sleep would cause said child to develop a deep sense of insecurity and mistrust. I'm no more of a psychologist than he is, but he himself said we should learn to parent by our gut instincts, and my gut instinct says a crying child should be picked up and hugged. Part of being a good parent is having the sense to sort out logic from fiction (and cruelty.)
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Summary: For those who read it thoroughly, an excellent work
Review: It would appear that some reviewers vehmently loath Dr. Spock yet they quite blatantly have missed the very key point of everything he said. Throughout the book he stresses numerous times the importance of following YOUR instincts and that he is only SUGGESTING methods for CERTAIN situations and he states quite clearly that it is of the utmost importance to realize that every child is different and parents are human and therefore you should not apply his methods, or any other "experts" methods to ALL cases without using YOUR OWN judgements. The core of everything Dr. Spock said was love your children and enjoy the experience of being a parent. He gives confidence to first time parents and a great deal of helpful advice on every aspect of baby and child care. One can get a great deal out of Dr. Spock's work, but only if they are patient, thorough readers with a certain amount of common sense.
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Summary: Not Even Worth 1 Star
Review: It's a shame I can't give this book 0 stars. Somehow having heard Dr. Spock's name growing up I thought this would be a good book to get. I couldn't have been more wrong. His views about co-sleeping with babies are rather twisted (makes me wonder what sick thoughts went on in his mind) and the most laughable is his advice on letting your baby cry him/herself to sleep, even to the point of vomiting. I'm with another reviewer on this topic: research his personal life and see what kind of father he actually was himself. If this man were still alive, I would not leave him alone with my child for one second.
I suggest that people who want to learn more about medical issues regarding their children as well as good and LOVING parenting read "The Baby Book" by Dr. Sears. It was recommended to me by a friend and I have since bought several of his other books. He and his wife co-write everything and it is really wonderful. Dr. Spock's book should be abandoned and thrown into recycling bins everywhere. My husband was right. Dr. Spock was nothing more than a man with connections who built a publishing empire.
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Summary: Spock's Still the Authority
Review: Ten years ago with the birth of my first child, I received 6 different books on baby care--all from the best sellers list. Over the next 10 years each of them, at one time or another, was heaved against a wall at 2 am or tossed into the kitchen trash can. Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care helped me to correctly diagnose croup in my 6 month old daughter, which led to a call to the pediatrician as opposed to a trip to the ER. Dr. Spock calmly and reassuringly helps parents learn THEY are the experts about their own children.
Rating:
Summary: Spock's Still the Authority
Review: Ten years ago with the birth of my first child, I received 6 different books on baby care--all from the best sellers list. Over the next 10 years each of them, at one time or another, was heaved against a wall at 2 am or tossed into the kitchen trash can. Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care helped me to correctly diagnose croup in my 6 month old daughter, which led to a call to the pediatrician as opposed to a trip to the ER. Dr. Spock calmly and reassuringly helps parents learn THEY are the experts about their own children.
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Summary: After 50 Years Still the Best Book On Child Development Ever
Review: This book, originally published fifty years ago and revised a number of times, remains the classic in the field just as Benjamin Spock remains the dean of published pediatric authorities. Yet no book has been more misunderstood and misinterpreted. The truth is that Spock's ideas, controversial when originally published, have become so mainstream that one would be hard pressed to find a book on baby and child care that does not incorporate or utilize Spockian theory. The book is a guide to the care and development of children from birth to five years. While it is chock full of useful information, such as methods of feeding infants, sleep issues in babies and toddlers and toilet training, the real value of the book is it's discussion of the psychological development of children. At the time the book was published, the prevailing theories of childcare focused almost exclusively on methods of parental control, that is to say discipline. The experts of the day sought to teach parents how to control their children's behavior but not how to understand that behavior. Spock changed all that. By couching his Freudian approach to child development in folksy and simple language, Spock brought the theories of Freud to the entire nation. Certainly parents would have been horrified to read straightforward Freudian ideas about the Oedipal complex and such things. Spock simply asserts that girls learn to be women by imitating their mothers and flirting with their fathers and vice versa. In this manner, Freud's child development theories were accepted into the mainstream. The first sentence of the book states "Relax. You know more than you think you do." This sums up Spock's common sense approach to the role of parents in caring for and guiding the behavior of their children. This is more true today than when the book was published. So many parents are caught up in trendy ideas and theories that they fail to step back and observe what is really going on. Spock's discussion of child psychology, while Freudian based, is not so narrow. His book is filled with numerous examples of the behavior of babies, toddlers and young children and parents' appropriate or inappropriate responses. Contrary to popular myth, Spock does not ignore the necessity of discipline. Indeed, throughout the book, he urges appropriate discipline. He demonstrates, through example, why young children after the first birthday misbehave. Sometimes, it is an attempt to manipulate the actions of the parents. More importantly, as Spock demonstrates, in the period we call the "terrible twos" and also for children approaching the age of 3 and a half, disobedience is usually an attempt by children to discover the boundaries of their own autonomy. As such it is a vital and necessary part of human development. Spock's great innovation is accepting this as natural. He does not call children who disobey naughty or bad. But at the same time, he urges parents to set appropriate boundaries and enforce them. The failure to enforce the limits of a young child's autonomy is what leads to spoiled children. As Spock points out in his characteristically folksy way, even the children know something is wrong when they are allowed to get away with such actions. As I stated above, Spock's approach to childcare is virtually universal. No modern child psychologist or pediatrician would argue that the meaning and reason for child behavior is unimportant to the effort to raise healthy adults. Doctors like Stoppard and Brazelton are full fledged Spockians. Even the super-famous Dr. Ferber lifts his complicated method straight out of Spock's simple idea that a little crying will not harm a baby. Indeed, a point Spock often makes is that happy and sane parents are the most important factors in raising happy children. This book is extremely valuable and makes fascinating reading. It should be read by all parents and parents to be. It should be read first cover to cover and then re-read as one's children approach the various ages covered in the book. It remains one of the signature influential works of the 20th Century and I can't imagine it ever going out of vogue. Read this book!
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