William Sears (physician)

For other people named William Sears, see William Sears (disambiguation).

William Penton Sears (born 9 December 1939) is an American pediatrician and the author or co-author of more than 30 parenting books, most notably several in the "Sears Parenting Library." He is a frequent guest on television talkshows, where he goes by the name Dr. Bill. He and his wife Martha Sears, R.N., are among the leading proponents of the attachment parenting philosophy.

Biography

Sears was born in Alton, Illinois. His own father deserted the family, so one of his primary male adult influences was his grandfather.

Sears' residencies were taken at Children's Hospital Boston^{[citation needed]} and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. He is an Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine.^[1]

He is a medical and parenting consultant for BabyTalk and Parenting magazines and the pediatrician on the website Parenting.com According to his biography, he has been a guest on more than 100 television shows including: 20/20, Donahue, Good Morning America, Oprah Winfrey, CBS This Morning, CNN, Today Show and Dateline.

According to his website, in 1997, Sears underwent major surgery for colon cancer, followed by radiation therapy and chemotherapy.

Sears and his wife Martha have eight children, one of whom (Stephen) has Down's Syndrome. Three of the children have also become doctors, Jim (the oldest) (The Doctors), Bob (second oldest), and Peter. A fourth son, Matt, is currently studying medicine at UC Irvine.

Sears and several of his family members are distributors and spokespersons for Juice Plus dietary suppplements, which Sears promotes on his website.^[2] National Safety Associates (NSA), the company that markets Juice Plus, used testimonials from Bill Sears in advertisements promoting Juice Plus Gummies. In April 2005, the Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Division, in response to a consumer complaint, deemed that the ads misleadingly implied that the Gummies are low in sugar and are a nutritional alternative to fruits and vegetables. In response, NSA promised to modify its ads and stop claiming that the product was is “the next best thing to fruits and vegetables”.^[3]

As of 2009, Sears lives with his family in San Clemente, California, and operates a private medical practice (Sears Family Pediatrics) in Capistrano Beach, California with his sons.

Selected works

• The Baby Book (1993)
• The Discipline Book (1995)
• SIDS: A Parent's Guide to Understanding and Preventing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (1996)
• The Attachment Parenting Book (2001)
• The Successful Child: What Parents Can Do to Help Kids Turn Out Well (2002)
• The Healthiest Kid In The Neighborhood (2006)
• The Pregnancy Book
• The Birth Book
• Parenting the Fussy Baby
• The A.D.D. Book
• The Breastfeeding Book
• The Family Nutrition Book

References

1. ^ FOXNews.com - Asthma Out of Control in America's Kids - Health News | Current Health News | Medical News
2. ^ AskDrSears.com - Juice Plus+
3. ^ "How product testimonials bend the rules", Consumer Reports, January 2006

External links

• Weekly Q&A from Dr. Sears on Parenting.com
• http://www.askdrsears.com/
• http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/parenting/04/18/par.checkups/index.html
• http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0205/03/ltm.01.html
• http://www.cnn.com/US/9810/15/best.toys/
• http://www.parenting.com/parenting/article/0,19840,671841,00.html
• http://www.drphil.com/shows/show/824
• http://www.smartspot.com/commitment/bio_sears/

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Name	Sears, William
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Date of birth	1940
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