n the TNH Forum you're welcome to discuss just about anything, including topics I personally disagree with or that run counter to TNH's editorial preferences. For instance, I disagree with spanking, the Ferber method of sleep training, submission to one's husband and lots of other stuff. You won't see articles supporting those subjects here, but you will see them discussed (often vigorously) in the forum. The only posts I delete are either obscene, hate speech, spam or the odd duplicate post that happens to everyone.

There is one exception: I will not allow promotion of the Ezzo method of parenting. Pro-Ezzo posts are deleted. It is the exception because it's not just a matter of opinion, like most other parenting method debates; the Ezzo method has been proven to be medically dangerous. If you use some or all of the Ezzos' methods, you're still welcome here, but promotion of their program as a whole on the forum is off-limits.

While some families have had success with his work, I chalk that up to luck and common sense. Many first-time parents have short supplies of both. Secure parents are not likely to continue following some book's advice if their children aren't doing well on it, but the insecure and nervous among us (and all you have to do to know there are a lot of insecure, nervous parents out there is look at the bookshelves in the parenting section of any book store) may think there's something wrong with them, not the method, and continue on until real damage is done. Strict obedience to the Ezzo method has resulted in dozens of documented cases of failure-to-thrive in infants and loss of milk in nursing mothers.

Here are some links for you on why I take the stand I do on Ezzo:

Ezzo publisher drops contract, cites dangerous medical misinformation in "Babywise"--3/23/01 article from Christianity Today magazine
Babywise advice linked to dehydration, failure to thrive--4/98 article from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) News by pediatrician Matthew Aney, an AAP candidate fellow.
35 Unsubstantiated Medical Statements in Babywise--sidebar to Aney's story from AAP News
Official AAP stand on scheduled feeding--12/97 policy statement
Open letter to Ezzo publisher from former Ezzo editor Frank York--1/4/01 letter reprinted with permission that eventually led to the Multnomah Publishing investigation and decision to drop the Ezzos' contract
Unprepared to Teach Parenting?--10/27/00 article from Christianity Today on two California churches' denouncement of the Ezzos as unfit for all public ministry, including the church where he developed the religious precursor to "Babywise," and an investigation into Gary Ezzo's background

Thank you for understanding. It's difficult for me to ever limit discussion on anything at TNH, but there are times when I have to take a stand for what is right. This is one of them.

--Lynn