Critics have raised concerns about the Ezzos' lack of professional qualifications. In addition, an unprecedented number of recognized Christian leaders have pointed to troubling patterns of behavior some suggest disqualify the Ezzos from public ministry.

• Lofty professional claims, but little or no accountability. Although Ezzo brings no pertinent professional qualifications to his books*, Babywise claims that its "parent directed feeding" plan for infants is setting "a new course for behavioral pediatrics," and brings "a major paradigm shift" to the health care specialty of breastfeeding management. Ezzo typically dismisses wide-ranging professional criticism as merely the product of professional jealousy or personal bias.
  
  
• Lack of academic ethics. Ezzo has attempted a scholarly approach to his subject. He has, for example, taken the trouble to set up a historical and philosophical context for his material. However, he frequently misrepresents the views of others and misdefines terms. Published studies cited in the footnotes and quotations offered within the text often turn out not to support Ezzo's points when their original context is examined. He has plagiarized in at least one proven instance. To prove the safety and efficacy of their plan, the Ezzos cite their own private, unverifiable research and contrast the experiences of two fictional babies, one of whom benefits from the plan both short and long-term, while the other one, not raised according to the plan, suffers as a result both in babyhood and in adulthood. There is no editorial or publishing accountability to help correct these issues -- his books are currently self-published.
  
  
• Divisive behavior. Ezzo is currently excommunicated from an evangelical Christian church in California and has been subject to church discipline processes in two other churches in which he held leadership positions. The leaders of all three have cited patterns of behavior including divisiveness, untruthfulness, and of spreading malicious gossip in retaliation for attempts to hold him accountable. Two have stated their belief that Ezzo is unfit for public ministry.
  
  
• Denigrating those who disagree. Ezzo has attacked, denigrated and spread malicious gossip about parents, reporters, medical professionals and others who dare to disagree with and/or criticize his material.
  
  
• Untruthfulness. He has been caught in lies about a wide variety of things, including claiming, in writing, a degree he never earned and emailing slanderous statements about his former church while portraying his departure from it as quiet and gracious.
  
  
• His family life does not reflect the promises in his books. Ezzo has portrayed himself as a successful parent, but his children have cut off contact with him. This is particularly troubling since the Ezzos say the goal of their program is friendship with one's adult children and urge that parenting philosophies, including their own, be judged by "observ[ing] the end results."
  

These circumstances affect Ezzo's credibility as an advisor on parenting and discipline.

Essential Reading:

Living Hope Evangelical Fellowship Statement of Excommunication

Dr. John MacArthur's Statement on Ezzo and Grace Community Church

"More Than A Parenting Ministry" | PDF Version
by Kathleen Terner and Elliott Miller, Christian Research Journal, Christian Research Institute

"A Matter of Bias?" | PDF Version
by Kathleen Terner and Elliott Miller, Christian Research Journal, Christian Research Institute

"Unprepared to Teach Parenting"
by Kathleen Terner, Christianity Today

"Adventures in Ezzoland"
by Frank York, Midwest Christian Outreach

"Q & A With Gary Ezzo"
by Kelly Griffith, Bradenton Herald

Timeline of the Ezzo Controversy
Documentation linked in timeline format

For Further Information:

More Critiques, Reviews and Analyses

*Ezzo himself holds neither a 2-year nor 4-year college degree. He does hold a Master of Ministry degree granted by a program that accepted life experience in lieu of an earned college diploma but has no medical or lactation credentials. Ezzo's co-author on some titles, Dr. Robert Bucknam, is a pediatrician; however, his name was added to the cover of Babywise in 1993. The Babywise material itself had been adapted from the Ezzos' earlier manual for Christian parents, Preparation for Parenting, by removing religious references, so it is unclear whether Dr. Bucknam contributed anything to the text except for a foreword offering his personal testimony of using the material with his firstborn when he was a medical student pursuing a different specialty. (It was after his exposure to the Ezzos' ideas that he switched to pediatrics.)

Ezzo's co-author for Preparation for Parenting is his wife, Anne Marie Ezzo, who holds an R.N. degree and practiced as a nurse for two to three years in the late 1970's.