CLEVELAND: A Northeast Ohio pediatrician is America’s modern-day Dr. Spock.
Dr. Robert Needlman, a developmental pediatrician at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, has given 21st-century twists to Dr. Benjamin Spock’s parenting bible, Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care.
The ninth edition, 65th-anniversary edition of the classic advice book — revised and updated by Needlman — is being released today by publisher Pocket Books ($8.99).
In the updated version, Needlman addresses many topics that parents never dreamed of facing when Spock’s epic first came out in 1946: video games, autism, lesbian or gay couples raising children and numerous other modern issues.
While the topics of the day have changed, the same basic philosophies that Spock shared for decades continue to be woven throughout Needlman’s words.
And, in fact, the book still begins with the same adage as always: Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.
“In some respects, working on this book is like somebody is working on the translation of the Bible,” Needlman said. “The philosophy is sort of a core philosophy.”
Needlman, 52, never met Spock, although both worked at different times at Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Spock died in 1998 at age 94.
“They really meet every day on the page in that book,” said Spock’s second wife and widow, Mary Morgan. “They so blend together, it’s hard to see where Ben stops and Robert begins.
“… Robert Needlman has this amazing ability to honor Dr. Spock’s voice and Dr. Spock’s spirit.”
Second in sales to Bible
Unlike other advice books of his time, Spock assured parents that they were the expert on their own children’s care. While other child-rearing experts of the day warned that picking up crying infants would spoil them, Spock urged parents to cuddle their children as a way to make them grow up feeling happier and more secure.
Spock’s book has sold more than 50 million copies, making it second in sales to only the Bible.
Spock didn’t shy away from change and frequently made revisions to his popular book to reflect new thoughts and ideas, Morgan said.
When his book was criticized during the feminist movement in the 1960s for failure to mention fathers in parenting and only using “he” to refer to babies and children, for example, Spock responded by adding more information about the importance of fathers and referring to children as “he” and “she.”
Spock’s words have resonated with so many parents over the years because he took a “kinder, gentler approach,” said Dr. Richard Ball, a pediatrician in the Green office of Akron Children’s Hospital Pediatrics who has been in practice for 30 years.
“He told moms, ‘You really can trust your instincts,’ ” Ball said. “It kind of was the beginning to a more flexible approach. It’s OK to be affectionate with your child and treat them as individuals. It’s not a cookbook approach. Different children have different needs.”
Dr. Spock’s book “still has value and still is something I don’t hesitate to recommend to my parents,” he said.
Interviewing candidates
After Spock’s death, his widow interviewed candidates to carry on her husband’s legacy.
Needlman already was among a team of medical experts developing content for www.drspock.com when he went to dinner with Morgan more than a decade ago to discuss becoming the revising author of the eighth edition of Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care.
During the dinner, Needlman suddenly told Morgan he needed to leave.
Morgan was perplexed — until he explained that he had a nightly tradition of reading with his daughter, Grace, then 10, even when he was out of town and had to read over the phone.
He got the job.
“I said, ‘This is the kind of person that Ben would want to carry on his work,’ ” Morgan recalled.
Needlman edited the eighth edition in 2004 and then continued research to prepare for the ninth version being released today.
The newest edition includes a section about the importance of reading with children that was added by Needlman, developer of the national Reach Out and Read project to facilitate a love of reading in children. The illustrations were created by his now-grown daughter.
Needlman said whether it’s reading or some other activity, parents should find ways to bond with their children by doing something they truly enjoy together.
“The idea that parenting should be an adversarial relationship really makes me sad,” he said. “It shouldn’t be that way. It should be mutual respect, mutual understanding.”
Cheryl Powell can be reached at 330-996-3902 or chpowell@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow Powell on Twitter at twitter.com/abjcherylpowell.
