Truby King - a good parenting style...?

If you've never heard of Truby King, his father Frederick was an original member of the Committee of Colonists appointed in October 1840 at Plymouth, Devon, New Zealand. Born in 1858 in New Plymouth, New Zealand he was notable in his day, and in 1917 received the C.M.G. and in 1925 was knighted. He was well meaning in his work, and in the the last 30 years of his life reduced infant mortality in New Zealand from 88·8 to 309 per 1,000 childbirths. He founded the Plunket Society in 1907 to help infants receive a nutritious diet (Source and more detailed bio can be read here. The article was written in 1966 and shows the high esteem in which he was held even then.)

The point is, that the world was a very different place then, and the regimes Truby King suggested were in context at that time which is very different to now. Nothing was known about how the infant brain develops, the importance of forming secure attachments and how this impacts on future development. So what what was so different and what did he suggest? Google his name and a whole host of sites will come up, but a good enough summary is here from a piece by Sebastian Kraemer called Resilience.

Note how the task of childrearing is related to the prevailing moral code. In earlier times God's will was the driving force, but by the early twentieth century it was the survival of the nation that mattered most. The most influential expert of those days was Dr Frederic Truby King, originally based in New Zealand, who launched a successful movement to convert mothers to breast feeding. Besides this laudable aim, almost everything else he preached was quite horrific. The key to the Truby King method was to feed your baby by the clock every four hours and never at night. If you gave in to him he would become spoiled and spineless and, by implication, no use as a soldier when he grew up. To toughen them up, babies were to spend much of the day on their own outside in the fresh air, and should not be cuddled or comforted even when in distress. Mothers were not encouraged to play with babies, because it would excite them too much. Fathers had no role except earning money.

The full piece can be read on this Blog by clicking here

Maybe Daisy Goodwin (Silver River founder) and Hamish Mykura (Channel Four) are not aware of Truby King's methods, but to base part of a show on his principles, and to then say no damage to children will be done is frankly, unacceptable.
Clive Dorman
The Children's Project

Recruiting email for Bringing up Baby, July 2006

This is the email that first alerted me to what could be a dangerous show.
Dated 5/7/06


To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing from a television production company called Silver River Productions.

We have recently been commissioned by Channel Four to make a new documentary series, working title ‘Bringing Up Baby’.

The series concerns itself with the experience of pregnancy and early childhood over the last 100 years, and the changing methods of preparing a parent for the birth and arrival of her child.

The programmes will explore different approaches to child rearing by actually following families as they go through the process from birth to baby’s first year and at this stage we would very much like to consider Dr Truby King’s theories within the series as one of the three approaches that we will explore.

Each family will select an approach they think will fit in with their lifestyle and ideals and we will follow them as they get to grips with it. We will ask expectant parents to try out three of the most popular handbooks of the last century and we will follow expectant mums through stages of her pregnancy, to childbirth, to the beginnings of her infant’s life.

To make this series possible we are looking for onscreen experts or ‘mentors’ who will guide, teach and advise our families throughout the process. I am aiming to find someone who is passionate about Truby King’s theories – or perhaps other manuals and guides to childrearing that we are looking to focus on within the series.

‘Bringing up Baby’ is set to be fun, yet also serious and educational, it is timely and evocative aiming to challenge the viewers sensibilities considering the social constructs that have governed the last ten decades of baby care.

Thank you so much for your time, it would be great to chat to someone in more detail about the project – perhaps you could point me in the right direction of the correct person to speak to.

I will look forward to hearing from you soon

Kindest regards

Claire

Claire Lloyd-Evans
Associate Producer
Silver River
Brook House, 2 - 16 Torrington Place
London, WC1E 7HN
T: 020 73072720
F: 020 79073411

About Bringing Up Baby by Clive Dorman

Channel Four and Daisy Goodwin at Silver River are keeping tight-lipped about this series.

I first received an email in July 2006 asking for help in finding on-screen mentors who are passionate about about Truby King's methods!

I spoke at length with Claire Lloyd-Evans warning her of the dangers in Truby Kings methods and sent her copies of The Social Baby Book and DVD which clearly show how to attend to the needs of infants.

I never heard back, so I wrote to Daisy Goodwin and Hamish Mykura at Channel Four.

In short I have never received satisfactory answers to my simple questions, which is why I have taken the decision to make public the feeble replies I have received.

I have found both Channel Four and Silver River dismissive in their responses, which can only mean they either choose not to hear, or do not believe that neglecting the needs of infants can cause long-lasting social and emotional damage.

Worringly neither have thus far let me know who are their experts and advisors. Channel 4 have not said if Claire Verity is involved as has been reported.

Stop Claire Verity

Clive and Helen Dorman of The Children's Project are so concerned about Claire Verity, we have started a Blog to show the public why we believe she and those like her are dangerous to the wellbeing of children.

The Sun published an article about her on 12th May 2007. To read the article in a new window Click here.

Claire is reportedly working with Silver River who are producing a series for Channel Four called Bringing up Baby. We have written to both but have not yet had a reply. We will publish their responses.
Claire is speaking at the Baby Show at Earls Court (she recently appeared at NEC Birmingham).
Her regimes are harsh, and if followed to the letter, are highly likely to damage children.

There is a worrying increase in self-styled (and often childless) parenting gurus who enjoy celebrity status by offering parents techniques of managing babies and children that have been discredited in research for decades.

It should no longer be acceptable to ignore the basic needs of children.

This blog is somewhere for people worried about these trends to write objective reasons why Claire Verity and others in the same genre should no longer be tolerated in the parenting field. Please click here to submit your support. Your submission will be checked and posted as quickly as possible.

Alternatively, you can comment on a post - use the link below and please leave a name.

Let's make this a national campaign that the media and broadcasters cannot ignore.
Help us please.
Clive Dorman
Director & Co-founder
The Children's Project

No 10 Health Visiting Petition

We like health visitors! They are a brow beaten and demoralised profession, seeing their role undermined and training numbers cut for reasons incomprehensible to anyone in early years work. At a time when the government pours millions into schemes such as Sure Start, Children's Centres and Every Child Matters aimed at helping families, they cut the very lifeline to support and guidance for thousands of families. HVs are the only group that visit every home in the country and research shows families overwhelmingly enjoy the support they receive from their health visitor.

Poor standards in health visiting has everything to do with high case loads, insufficient training and low moral. Please visit the Number Ten petitions website and sign your support.

Copy this URL and post where you can to support these overworked and undervalued people...

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Healthvisitors/

It says

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to to make a commitment to establish a well-funded, well-trained universal health visitor service available to all parents of children under five, with specialist support for the most vulnerable families."

Or to go to the petition Click here

Cheers, Clive