Baby Matters

Vegetarian Baby and Child, Sept-Oct, 2002 by Jake Marcus

Baby Matters: What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Caring For Your Baby By Linda Palmer. $12.57 at Amazon.com. Published 2001 by Lucky Press, 384 pages.

So your know-it-all cousin chides you that your baby's being spoiled by all that attention. Last time you talked, she disapproved of prolonged breastfeeding. What'll it be next? Don't you wish you had some scientific evidence to back up your choices? Well, now you do. Dr. Linda Folden Palmer's book, Baby Matters, exhaustively lists the scientific evidence behind attachment parenting, breastfeeding, and the reality of food allergies. With chapters such as, "The Attachment Advantage," "Bonding: the Inside Story," "Crying & Caring," and "The Dangers of Cow's Milk," Dr. Palmer shows how the establishment of science-conquering-nature has caused unnecessary suffering and heartache to parents and babies alike. Leaving babies to "cry it out," forcing them to sleep alone, giving them formula instead of breastfeeding, ignoring possible food allergies, and indiscriminate vaccination have all resulted in alarming SIDS rates, aggressiveness, emotional detachment, and physical illness. Not to be accused of selectively cull ing sources, Palmer evenhandedly discusses vaccines, for example, deflating the overblown cons and discussing the details of what the research really shows. This is truly a valuable resource for attachment parents, and perhaps if you gave it to your cousin at her baby shower, she might just learn a thing or two. What you (and your great grandma) knew in your heart was right all along-it simply took some time for our society to catch up.