Biography of t berry brazelton sleep

Dr. Brazelton, who held the title of clinical professor of pediatrics emeritus at Boston Children’s Hospital and who continued to publish and lecture well into his 90s, died Tuesday morning at his Barnstable home at the age of 99, his daughter, Christina Brazelton confirmed. The cause of death wasn’t disclosed.

Working in the tradition of Dr. Benjamin Spock, another hugely popular advice-dispensing pediatrician, Dr. Brazelton combined rigorous science with personal charisma to become one of America’s most visible and celebrated child-care experts. His name was appended to groundbreaking institutions and scientific methods, while his smiling, calming countenance was familiar to millions of baby boomers starting families in the post-Spock era.

“He revolutionized the way we think about families, particularly around the birth of a child,” said J. Kevin Nugent, a longtime colleague and friend who directs the Brazelton Institute in the Division of Developmental Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. “He affected so many people around the world.”

Dr. Brazelton’s focus on the overall health of babies and young children — their emotional well-being as well as their physical vitality — informed every aspect of his professional life. His ability to connect with them one-on-one, even at a preverbal level, was extraordinary, earning him the nickname “baby whisperer.”

“Whenever I’m with a newborn,” he once wrote, “I feel the magic in the way every baby plays a role in furthering the relationship with those who care for her and, as a result, her future.”

Among his most important contributions are the concept of anticipatory guidance for parents, a collaborative, dialogue-based approach now widely used in pediatric training, and his formulation of a neonatal behavioral assessment scale that bears his name. So, too, do an endowed chair in pediatrics and a p

Pediatrician, professor of pediatrics emeritus at Harvard Medical School, founder of the Brazelton Touchpoints Center, author, mentor, inspiration—these are just some of the many titles earned by Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, who passed away on March 13. To many of us at NAEYC and in the early childhood education field, he was an influential thinker and beloved presence who profoundly shaped how we understand young children’s development and learning. As my NAEYC colleague Gwen Simmons shared in a post on HELLO, “He was a tremendous influence in the care and support of babies, parents, and ECE educators. I remember watching movies (yes, not video clips) of Dr. Brazelton as he worked with babies and parents from his clinical practice. It changed the way I looked at, held, and spoke to every baby from a very early point in my career.”

His work lives on in so many ways. The Brazelton Touchpoints Center, collaborates with partners across the country to establish scalable low-cost interventions that propel children’s healthy development and and strengthen the collaborative relationships among families, parents, caregivers, providers, and communities. The influence of Brazelton’s theories can be seen in the recent understandings of young children’s brain development and the important concepts of serve and return. As Ellen Galinsky writes in her moving tribute, “I can also see that his force is so powerful that all of us whom he deeply touched will continue to go forth and share his wisdom of listening to and respecting the wisdom of children and parents, that we will lead with the science of child development, and we will try to see that the good he brought to world continues to double, triple and quadruple every day."

One of Dr. Brazelton’s important contributions and influences—and there were many—was how he helped us understand how to best nurture babies’ development and learning as partners with families. He was a pioneer in understanding that development was fl

• Brazelton tries to explain to parents the nature of their babies and young children
• He has written more than 30 books on child development
• He saw more than 25%2C000 patients in his pediatric practice

Parents who regret mistakes they're making in rearing their children may take comfort in this: "You learn more from your mistakes than you do from your successes," says T. Berry Brazelton, one of the country's leading pioneers in early childhood development and one of the nation's most renowned pediatricians.

Brazelton is celebrating his 95th birthday this month with the publication of his memoir, Learning to Listen: A Life Caring for Children.

Born and raised in Waco, Texas, Brazelton trained in both pediatrics and child psychiatry and combined those interests to launch a hugely successful career that broke new ground in explaining to parents the nature of their babies and young children. He taught parents to get to know their babies and young children and to be aware of the kids' different behaviors, emotions and expressions. He also encouraged parents to trust their own judgment in rearing their children.

Brazelton has written more than 30 books on child development, including the Touchpoints series, the Brazelton Way series, Infants and Mothers and To Listen to a Child. His Emmy-award winning TV show, What Every Baby Knows, ran for more than a decade.

During his 50 years of private practice in Cambridge, Mass., he saw more than 25,000 patients. He worked as an advocate for children in Congress, and in February, President Obama awarded Brazelton a Presidential Citizens Medal, given for exemplary service to fellow citizens.

Brazelton and his wife of 64 years, Chrissy, have four children and seven grandchildren and live in Cambridge. He is professor emeritus of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. He offers some insights on his life's work:

Q: What is your best advice to parents of ba