The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care by Benjamin Spock
"The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care" by Benjamin Spock is a pioneering guide for parents that emphasizes the importance of trusting one's instincts in child-rearing. First published in 1946, the book combines pediatric knowledge with insights from psychology, particularly influenced by Freudian theories. Spock's approachable writing style contrasts sharply with the more severe tone of many contemporary child-care manuals, encouraging parents to feel empowered rather than intimidated.
He organizes his advice by age, addressing developmental stages from birth to puberty, and advocates for a flexible approach to parenting, rejecting strict schedules in favor of responding to children's needs. Notably, Spock promotes breastfeeding at a time when bottle-feeding was becoming more common and emphasizes the involvement of fathers in early childcare. His message resonates particularly with the baby-boom generation and continues to influence parenting philosophies today, as updated editions of the book have reached millions worldwide. This guide remains relevant for those seeking a compassionate and sensible approach to caring for children.
The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care by Benjamin Spock
Identification Child-care manual
Author Benjamin Spock (1903-1998)
Date First published in 1946
Spock’s reassuring child-care manual found an eager audience among a post-Depression and post-World War II generation of parents at the beginning of the baby boom. He advised mothers and fathers to trust their own instincts, and he advocated a warm, loving style of parenting—a departure from the authoritarian approach recommended in other child-care manuals of the time.
Benjamin Spock begins The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care with these heartening words: “Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.” He addresses readers directly in a plain writing style and cautions, “Don’t be overawed by what the experts say.” The book urges parents to trust their common sense instead.
Spock had been practicing pediatrics for at least ten years in New York when, in the early 1940’s, the paperback publisher Pocket Books asked him to write a child-care manual. By then, he had become known among colleagues and clients as a forward-thinking pediatrician who combined his interest in Freudian psychology with pediatrics. Spock agreed to write a manual because he saw a need for a book that united pediatrics and psychology. However, his most important aim, he says in Lynn Bloom’s 1972 biography, “was to write a book that increased parents’ comfort and independence; I wanted the book to avoid as much as possible telling parents what to do. I wanted to tell them how children develop and feel and then to leave it to the parents to decide on their own course of action.”
Spock said that he wrote the book from his own experience. He dictated the manuscript to his first wife, Jane Cheney Spock, who typed it and provided other help over the years it took to produce. He wanted the book to be complete, and he organized the topics by age, from birth through puberty. In 1946, the guide was published simultaneously in paperback by Pocket Books as The Pocket Book of Baby and Child Care and in a 527-page hardcover edition by Duell, Sloan and Pearce as The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care. The lower-priced paperback version sold hundreds of thousands of copies in the first year of publication. Spock received dozens of letters from grateful parents.
Spock set out to write with a gentle voice in contrast to the severe style of other child-care books of the time. “Most books for parents—pediatric and psychological—appeared to me to be condescending, scolding, or intimidating in tone,” Spock says in Bloom’s biography. One section of Baby and Child Care is headed “Enjoy your baby” and begins, “He isn’t a schemer. He needs loving.” (Spock refers to babies as “he” to avoid confusion when referring to the mother as “her.”) In addition to encouraging affection toward children, Baby and Child Care advocates flexibility with schedules: “You may hear people say that you have to get your baby strictly regulated in his feeding, sleeping, bowel movements, and other habits—but don’t believe this either.” Spock emphasizes that children will develop patterns according to their needs.
At a time when breast-feeding was declining and bottle-feeding was popular, Spock promoted the advantages of nursing. In an era when hospitals banned fathers from delivery rooms, Spock encouraged fathers to help care for their babies from the start. Spock had studied Sigmund Freud’s theories about psychoanalysis, and that influence is reflected in the book’s advice about weaning, toilet training, and sexual development.
Impact
Baby and Child Care became a best seller among parents of the baby-boom generation. Updated editions were published in later decades, and Spock’s now classic guide has sold millions in the United States and around the world.
Bibliography
Bloom, Lynn Z. Doctor Spock: Biography of a Conservative Radical. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1972.
Maier, Thomas. Dr. Spock: An American Life. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1998.
Spock, Benjamin. The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1946.