BMJ  2007;335:940 (3 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.39384.481308.59

Views & reviews

From the frontline

The baby shambles

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The baby monitors looked mournfully back at me from the bottom of the wheelie bin as I slammed the lid. Then I experienced a series of flashbacks: the crackle of a baby's cry; the whiff of stale vomit on my clothes; pacing the floor at 3 am; the breastfeeding propaganda, and the malign medical insensitivity of the health visitors' "support"—a tick list questionnaire on depression, domestic abuse, and "concerns" about seemingly everything (my wife took to hiding from them in her subsequent pregnancies). Thus we were sucked into the parental collective—mere drones with no free thought or will. Smoking might be dangerous, but becoming a parent seemed to be lethal.

In the past, having children involved two teenagers falling in love, having sex, then being forced to marry at the age of 20. Life was straightforward, with clearly defined roles and a script. The children tumbled out, and parents just . . . [Full text of this article]

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    StumbleUpon    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

Going to extremes

Tony Delamothe
BMJ 2007 335: 0. [Extract] [Full Text]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Babyshambles - An outbreak of common sense?

Duncan H Wilson
bmj.com, 3 Nov 2007 [Full text]

Thank you

Joan McClusky
bmj.com, 4 Nov 2007 [Full text]

Online poll

Find out more>>