Claire Verity

Claire Verity is a British baby care professional who specialises in the Truby King method. Her clients have included Jerry Hall and Sting. She featured as a mentor in the 2007 Channel 4 documentary series, Bringing Up Baby (which compared the 1950s Truby King method with the 1960s Benjamin Spock and the 1970s Continuum concept).

Her methods, such as advocating Truby King's tenets of minimal cuddling at bedtime and no eye contact with the baby while preparing the baby for bed, have generated controversy in the media and Blogosphere. Advice that has attracted controversy includes:

• Four-hourly feeding of newborns. This is felt by some parents and child care professionals to cause distress for infants and problems for mothers in establishing breastfeeding. Other parents and child care professionals confirm that establishing scheduled feedings have been beneficial to both parents and the babies.

• Early weaning. WHO and UNICEF currently recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life, citing studies that conclude that weight gain is not diminished by waiting until 6 months to introduce solid food. Claire Verity suggests that the researchers may not have accounted for the weight of babies,. In the British Medical Journal (BMJ), critics of the current WHO guidelines confirm that the 6-month recommendation is probably best in most parts of the world but suggest that in areas where water quality is good and birth control is widely available, solids can be safely introduced anytime after 17 weeks.

• Leaving babies to cry and limiting contact. Some critics feel that this method creates psychological problems in childhood and later in life, in particular with confidence, with adjustment, and in coping with stress.

• Placing babies in their own room from birth. Infants that sleep in the same room as their parent in their own separate bed have been found to have a decreased risk of SIDS. However, studies have also shown that cosleeping can increase the risk of SIDS, especially if either parent smokes.

Some critics have called into dispute her professional qualifications and her self-described title of "maternity nurse". In terms of complaints about her 2007 television programme with regards to her qualifications, an official OFCOM investigation concluded that "there is no evidence to suggest that a maternity nurse must have a qualification or belong to any professional body. While some maternity nurses may have a medical background, others do not but are experienced nannies or carers. Therefore, in our view, the description can refer to someone who is 'experienced' in post-birth care both for the baby and the mother"