THE CHILDREN'S DOCTOR

by Dr. Lendon B. Smith ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 20, 1969

Dr. Smith prescribes via McCall's and some 100 television stations so he probably has a wide following beyond the hundreds of tearful mothers and screaming infants of his daily practice who appear here. His book, not to be compared in depth or comprehensiveness with Dr. Homan's (Child Sense--p. 215) still should be very useful in a supplementary fashion. He combines at all times emotional and physical aspects of what problems he is discussing, demarcating when the former reach the borderline demanding psychiatric attention. Early chapters are obvious ones: on feeding; development by months and years; sleep patterns. Where you will find new material, relatively, is in the chapters on the hypermotor child (he's the one who can't sit still a minute) or the stubborn (i.e. hostile and antisocial) child with remarks on possible alleviating drugs as well as other ways of handling the situation. There's a chapter on allergies; one on sex; and his ""yellow pages"" at the close are equally random in coverage: say in the definition of terms, most of which are very general (like adoption or bathing or death), you'll find one on Osgood-Schlatter's disease while many other strange manifestations are omitted. What he does have to say is good and the tone is casual.

Pub Date: May 20, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Prentice-Hall

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1969

Categories: NONFICTION