NEW YORK -- Benjamin Spock, who revolutionized parenting for the baby-boom generation, has left behind a pediatricians' stew by recommending a vegetarian diet devoid of dairy products after the age of 2.
Spock suggests posthumously in the seventh edition of his best-selling "Baby and Child Care" that kids should have a diet free of dairy products and meat.
"Children can get plenty of protein and iron from vegetables, beans and other plant foods that avoid the fat and cholesterol that are in animal products," the book says.
The New York Times reported Saturday that many nutritionists and pediatricians -- including Spock's co-author, Steven J. Parker -- believe the dietary recommendation from the influential pediatrician is too extreme.
Parker said Spock believed his vegetarian diet had "given him a new lease on life," and that he wanted the book to be "in the forefront" of linking animal foods and disease.
Spock, whose book is second only to the Bible as the best-selling book in U.S. history, died March 15 at his home in La Jolla, Calif. He was 94.
Some of Spock's friends, including pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton of Boston, suggest that the baby guru's recommendations are "absolutely insane."
"Meat is an excellent source of the iron and protein children need, and to take away milk from children, I think that's really dangerous. Milk is needed for calcium and vitamin D," Brazelton told the Times.
Since the first edition of "Baby and Child Care" was published in 1946, Spock had consistently recommended meat and milk products for children.
Spock took up vegetarianism in 1991 after a series of illnesses. That conversion helped him lose 50 pounds and regain his ability to walk, said his wife, Mary Morgan.
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