I am only now reading Sheila Kitzinger's 1992 book, "Ourselves as mothers" for the first time (ISBN 0-553-40549-7).  In Chapter 11, page 198, in a section titled 'Expert Opinion', she describes the childrearing policy (dictum?) of a Dr Truby King from the 1920s.  He advocated feeding by strict schedule and in closely measured amounts, no unnecessary handling or touching, and much, much more.  I quote:

"An important part of this creed was the belief that to give a baby everything that he or she wants is to lay the foundations of a criminal character.  Mrs Frankenburg (a loyal follower of Dr King), who sat on the juvenile bench, wrote that 'the baby who "won't" lie in his cot becomes ... the toddler who won't play alone, the schoolboy who won't get up when he's called, the adolescent who won't come in at night.'  The only way to escape this was to have science take over child-rearing.  Unless women were doing it by the book, they were doing it wrong."

I am still trying to make the goose bumps disappear.  BTW, the book is excellent, as if that needs mentioning!
I am going nomail for several days so please if you have a response to this, send it to me directly.
Rachel
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