Coming from the religious side, I think these books hold a kind of distorted
eternal view.  The unspoken message of the books seems to be: "In order for
your child to have the best chance of going to heaven, you must 'discipline'
him/her from birth.  To best do this, begin with structuring his/her every
movement.  This includes structuring all sleeping, eating, and playing
activities."

To someone who is "religious," this seems like a justified tradeoff.  Earthly
pain and suffering (for mom and baby) for eternal life and glory (for baby).
This is why it is hard to get "religious" moms to give up the program, even
when their baby is clearly suffering and they would agree that their baby is
clearly suffering (i.e., no weight gain, excessive crying, etc.)  These moms
have been convinced that the suffering in the present will make it more
likely that their baby will accept salvation later in life and will spend
eternity in heaven as opposed to spending it in hell.  In their minds, the
glory and ecstasy of heaven will last forever and the pain and suffering on
earth lasts but only a short while (when compared to eternity).  What we say
as human beings holds next to no weight against what they think God is saying
through these other human beings.  The religious brainwashing here is VERY
intense.

Of course, this message (which the authors would deny they are giving, by the
way, but which is PLAINLY obvious to me and others) is complete and utter
nonsense.  How you feed your baby has NOTHING to do with any perceived
location that you might or might not spend eternity in.  But try and explain
that to a mom who has already been brainwashed!

Jessica Harrison Carlyon, MBA, CD, CLE

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