Dr. Sears site getting soft?

[wasabi]

Maybe this the wrong forum wasn't really sure. I went to the Dr. Sears site to get a link to give to a friend who is considering starting solids at 4 months based on amounts of nursing and nightwaking and watching them eat. I was expecting something that would very solidly state that basically no baby under 6 months needs anything other than BM and that there were other reasons etc. Well they do recommend waiting for 6 months but their guidelines were basically the same as a baby food company. Kellymom gives much more strict guidelines that seem much more in keeping with the AAP and WHO recommendations. Anyone else notice this?

[soccerchic21]

Wow I think that is definitely worth a letter. Maybe it was a oversight on their web designer's part

I would think that he should be agreeing with the AAP standards at least.

[Momtwice]

He lost me as a fan when he started selling baby formula. Sigh. (There are several old threads about it. He's on the board of a company that puts the "artificial fat blends" like DHA in baby formula, has done air and web advertising for them etc.)

A link to a thread 3 years ago. There are others.
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...ad.php?t=87261

[wasabi]

OMG a formula company underwrites the website I'm going to looking for support to keep exclusively BFing? Well that explains a lot! Yeah I was really surprised because it basically just gave lip service to waiting and said you might have a baby that is ready much earlier. They didn't mention the pincher grasp or sitting without support as milestones. I mean even the freaking Nestle formula website says my baby is not ready for soilds (I checked just for kicks) but according to the Sears site she might be if I feel she is. Oh I'm very disappointed but apparently late to the party.

[MA mommy]

Originally Posted by Momtwice

He lost me as a fan when he started selling baby formula. Sigh. (There are several old threads about it. He's on the board of a company that puts the "artificial fat blends" like DHA in baby formula, has done air and web advertising for them etc.)

A link to a thread 3 years ago. There are others.
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...ad.php?t=87261

I hate it when someone becomes a sellout. I'm more of a Dr Jay Gordon fan now. Hopefully he hasn't sold out!

[lilylove]

Originally Posted by Momtwice

He lost me as a fan when he started selling baby formula. Sigh. (There are several old threads about it. He's on the board of a company that puts the "artificial fat blends" like DHA in baby formula, has done air and web advertising for them etc.)

A link to a thread 3 years ago. There are others.
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...ad.php?t=87261

That makes me very very sad

[wendy1221]

You know, I have NEVER liked Dr Sears all that much. I had never heard of him until my first ds was a few months old. Until then, I had relied on #1, my own instincts, #2, my mom's advice, which was always "Wll, here's what I did, but... What do YOU feel is right?" #3, Stuff I had read in anthropology books and Mothering mags (dated back to 1980, thanks to a friend) and #4 what I heard at LLL meetings. Now it was at a LLL meeting that someone recommended the Baby Book to me. I borrowed if from the library and didn't even get past the introduction b/c I was completely turned off. I HATE his tone. I felt like he was talking down to me, and even worse, I think he thinks women are dumb biddable sheep who will do whatever the menfolk (especially Godlike Dr. Sears who will talk sweetly down to us and tell us what's best) tell them to. That's the impression I got from the introduction anyway.

I'm not surprised he sold out. He's an ass.

I get SO freakin irritated every time someone on this site or irl, especially my sister, who is one of his follwers, says "Well, Dr Sears says..." Who gives a crap what Dr Sears says? I'm more interested in what my instincts say and what the latest (good) medical research has to say.

[mom2katyandarianna]

He lost me as a fan when he started selling baby formula.

:

[Soxfan Mom]

*Sigh.* Now I am disappointed. I discovered him when we had problems getting our newborn first child to sleep in a crib. Both of our mothers were shocked! shocked! that we let her sleep with us. Dr. Sears provided me with lots of ammunition in favor of co-sleeping, a concept that mainstream ol' me truthfully never knew existed. He always seemed like a huge breastfeeding advocate, too, and one of the sane voices at Parenting mag.

I think I shall still like him for all of these factors, but it saddens me to see there is clay in them there feet.

[LauraN]

Finally! A place to tell my story!

I've been biting my tongue about Dr. Sears for over a year because I somehow always find myself surrounded by fans and I didn't want to turn anyone off him who might find inspiration for AP-like stuff.

BUT, here's what happened to me:

Following a recommendation from his Web site (in the text on toddler nutrition, not from an ad) I came very, very close to paying a lot of money for the Juice Plus stuff he pushes. He makes it sound like if you can't get vegetables into your toddler this is a good alternative.

Then, just before clicking the button to charge my credit card I thought twice b/c it's soooo expensive. I decided to do a little research.

Well, Juice Plus is on the MLM Watch list as one of the more questionable claims for nutrition. And it's an MLM! And the site he links you to is owned by Diane Sears (I'm guessing his daughter or daughter-in-law).

I can't tell you the horrible, disappointed, sour feeling in the pit of my stomach when I found this out. Afterall, Dr. Sears was my original inspiration for co-sleeping, extended bf, and other stuff that eventually led me to AP and more research.

But I now regard him as the most dishonest, blech, money grubber ever. He links you from his "sage" advice straight to his family member's MLM site! I've had several family members get taken in by MLMs and they never made any money despite complete attention and constant effort. Now, if they'd had a famous family member plugging their business, then they might not have lost all of their original investment!

MLMs take advantage of people like SAHMs who are trying to make a buck without leaving home. And Dr. Sear's family member is making money off their backs, with Dr. Sears' blessing!

And you know what happened when I sent him a letter telling him how I felt about it? I got a response from a representative of the MLM who wanted to talk to me on the phone to see if she could hook ME into it!

I'm so relieved to be able to get that off my chest. I couldn't believe it when it happened, and then I've felt unable to tell anyone about it for fear of turning them off AP!

[beaches1098]

Wow very enlightening info but sad. I wasn't aware of some of those things but have been questioning several things he has done lately.

[MamaTT]

What does MLM stand for?

[hubris]

Goodness, I just visited his site for the first time in a while to check out the Juice Plus thing, and I'm surprised at how much advertising there is. With his book sales, he shouldn't need corporate sponsorship of his site, isn't it enough just to dispense parenting advice and sell his own products?

I'm one of those moms who recommends his books to other people. Yes, sometimes his tone is a little condescending (although how condescending he feels seems to differ from reader to reader). I definitely think that he and Martha tend to be a little oversimplistic at times, which doesn't reassure a parent who has done everything in the book and STILL feels frustrated with nighttime parenting or another aspect of parenting. But in general, the books have good, common-sense advice, which is one thing that is scarce in most bookstores' parenting sections.

I'm mightily disappointed in how much he's shilling for other companies, though, and just as disappointed that he's selling out for products like the juice pills and the NoJo...and ads like "My Favorite Salmon - Dr. Sears" - give me a break! That's just a little too much for me.

Anybody know a good parenting-book author who is AP-friendly and not selling his name to canned salmon companies?

[Siana]

Sears, like all perdiatrician, specializes in the study of the entire body, which means the information provided for any one specific function is often limited (sometimes severly so). While I give Sears some slack for this, I which he wouldn't spout off his information like it were all fact, and in the least, provide updated references.

I heard about his formula advertising, and it did shake the world of North American AP'ers, and for good reasons. It doesn't suprise me that Dr. Sears' credibility has been going down hill since.

The good news is that I've heard Sears has been approached before to make changes to his site, and he has. So, we need to do just that : because it's a fact that many attachment parents still look up to him.

[LauraN]

Originally Posted by MamaTT

What does MLM stand for?

Multilevel marketing. You know, like Amway and HerbaLife? It works like this:

You start out buying their products, then you start getting pressured to become a distributor. To do that, you have to buy the products in bulk, paying up front. Then you try to sell them to get your money back.

If you get them all sold, you may make a small profit, but the company assures you that the greatest returns are on the commission you get when you have distributors under you. So you start pressuring people you know to become distributors.

It never works out because you need a certain number of distributors, all selling a certain amount of product and recruiting distributors themselves, in order to make money, and most people don't stick to it.

It's really a detestable system. I've had several family members get caught in that web and it's emotionally and financially draining. More info here, if you're interested: http://www.mlmwatch.org/ If you do a search for Fruit Plus you'll find out about Dr. Sears' product.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that they paid Dr. Sears to push the product, plus set up Diane Sears to manage a chain of distributors (so she'd automatically be at the top of the pyramid--the only place where actual money is made.)

I've been agonizing about this, as I said, because the Sears' were so instrumental in my path to AP and I'm so disappointed in them.

And his two sons are following in his footsteps. It just puts a whole different spin on that quote in the Baby Book intro where Martha says she's gotten criticized for having eight children, but her answer is, "the world needs my children."

[LauraN]

Originally Posted by Siana

The good news is that I've heard Sears has been approached before to make changes to his site, and he has. So, we need to do just that : because it's a fact that many attachment parents still look up to him.

I think what he did, once, was remove ads for formula from his site when a bunch of people complained. But he didn't stop pushing the stuff!

And like I said, when I wrote to complain about the Juice Plus situation, instead of responding himself (I would have been happy with a response from his publicist!) I instead got a reply from the Juice Plus people, who were very interested in talking to me in person to see if they couldn't convince me of the merits of their product. Ack!

[Jaz_Trio]

OMG so now where do we turn...it cant be to him, he has till now been my 'hero' for AP stuff, his books have been great but MY GOD he writes it but is not supporting it what a sell up...very sad!

[miasmommy]

Interesting thread... I too have noticed his Web site is filled w/ ads which turned me off but I must admit I LOVED the Baby Book, mostly because it validated my own instincts ( I am a first time Mom at 40 who had never even held a newborn, talk about CLUELESS!)

Sad when someone sells out. I am still recovering from Bob Dylan doing Victoria Secret ads... LOL :LOL

miasmommy

[LauraN]

They kellymom.com site has a great list of books to choose from. The issue, of course, is that the Sears books condense so much important information into one book. You'd probably need several of the other books to match it! He really filled a great need with his books. I wish he hadn't gone off the deep end with his product pushing.

[Momtwice]

If you want ONE author, I like
http://www.drjaygordon.com