Bill Sears

A pediatrician for the past twenty-six years, Dr. Sears is currently the Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. He has eight children of his own, ages six through thirty-one. He has written twenty-three books on childcare, fourteen were co-written with his wife, Martha Sears, R.N. He received his medical training at Harvard Medical School Children’s Hospital and Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children (the largest children’s hospital in the world). He is an oft-quoted promoter of attachment parenting.

A partial list of his works includes:

The Baby Book
The Pregnancy Book
Becoming a Father
The Family Health and Nutrition Book
300 Questions New Parents Ask
Nighttime Parenting
SIDS: A Parents Guide to Understanding and Preventing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
The Discipline Book
The Breastfeeding Book
The Birth Book
Parenting the Fussy Baby
The A.D.D. Book

http://www.askdrsears.com/ is a website launched circa 2000/2001 by the doctors Bill, sons Jim and Bob and wife Martha Sears (an RN, LLLL,IBCLC).

There was much distress at the launching of the website in the breastfeeding support community as formula advertising was initially used in the banner ads.

After much discussion (online, at conferences, via email, snail mail and I suspect in person) these ads were removed. Dr. William Sears is highly respected in the world of breastfeeding advocacy and there was a lot of disappointment at his seeming capitulation to the world of formula advertising. The main explanation given by the Sears for this seeming inconsistency was that they wanted their attachment parenting message to reach all parents, including those who bottle feed.

The site is now an excellent resource for both breast and bottle feeding parents who are interested in attachment parenting but is free of advertisements for formula.