Influential authors like behavioral psychologist John B. Watson, who wrote Psychological Care of Infant and Child in 1928, and pediatrician Luther Emmett Holt, who wrote The Care and Feeding of Children: A Catechism for the Use of Mothers and Children's Nurses in 1894, told parents to feed babies on specific schedules and start toilet training at an early, specific age.
[5][6] Watson, Holt, and other child care experts obsessed over rigidity because they believed that irregularities in feeding and bowel movements were causing the widespread diarrheal diseases seen among babies in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
[7] Furthermore, these experts, whose ideas were embodied in Infant Care pamphlets distributed by the U.S. government, warned against "excessive" affection by parents for their children.
[11] He contradicted contemporary norms in child care by supporting flexibility instead of rigidity and encouraging parents to show affection for their children.
[13] His intent in writing the book was to disseminate comprehensive information to all mothers, giving advice that combined the physical and psychological aspects of child care.
Drawn from his career as a pediatrician, Spock's advice is comprehensive, dealing with topics such as preparing for the baby, toilet training, school, illnesses, and "special problems" like "separated parents" and "the fatherless child".
[21] By the fourth edition, Spock adapts to society's shifting ideas of gender equality, especially after the rise of the women's liberation movement and concurrent feminist criticisms about sexism apparent in Baby and Child Care.
Spock changed every pronoun for the baby, previously referred to only as "he", and discusses ways for parents to minimize gender stereotyping while raising a child.
[24] Within a year of being published, The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care had already sold 750,000 copies, mostly by word-of-mouth advertising.
Mothers heavily relied on his advice; by 1956, The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care was already selling a million copies each year.
Skepticism of his work increased, especially among colleagues, who criticized Spock for not being a serious academic researcher and relying too heavily on anecdotal evidence in his book.
[30] In the 1970s, with the rise of the women's liberation movement, feminists began to publicly criticize Spock for the sexist philosophy apparent in his book.
[34] Spock also masked Freudian explanations of children's behavior in plainspoken language to avoid offending his readers, making Freud accessible to mainstream America.
[35] In 1959, Look magazine praised Spock, noting that "perhaps no other person has so influenced an entire nation's ideas about babies ... His views have brought naturalness, common sense, reassurance, Sigmund Freud and even joy to parents all over the world".
But for three generations of American parents, the next best thing was Baby and Child Care ... Dr. Benjamin Spock ... breathed humanity and common sense into child-rearing".