Skip to main content

Advertising Disclaimer »

Main menu

  • Journals
    • Pediatrics
    • Hospital Pediatrics
    • Pediatrics in Review
    • NeoReviews
    • AAP Grand Rounds
    • AAP News
  • Authors
    • Author Guidelines
  • Content
    • Current Issue
    • Complete Issue PDF
    • Archive
    • 20th Anniversary Special Edition
    • Topic/Program Collections
    • Blog
    • Questions from NeoReviews
  • CME/MOC
    • CME Quizzes
    • MOC Claiming
    • NeoReviewsPlus
    • Board Review Study Guide
  • Multimedia
    • Pediatrics On Call Podcast
  • Subscribe
  • Alerts
  • Careers
  • Other Publications
    • American Academy of Pediatrics

User menu

  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
American Academy of Pediatrics

AAP Gateway

Advanced Search

AAP Logo

  • Log in
  • My Cart
  • Journals
    • Pediatrics
    • Hospital Pediatrics
    • Pediatrics in Review
    • NeoReviews
    • AAP Grand Rounds
    • AAP News
  • Authors
    • Author Guidelines
  • Content
    • Current Issue
    • Complete Issue PDF
    • Archive
    • 20th Anniversary Special Edition
    • Topic/Program Collections
    • Blog
    • Questions from NeoReviews
  • CME/MOC
    • CME Quizzes
    • MOC Claiming
    • NeoReviewsPlus
    • Board Review Study Guide
  • Multimedia
    • Pediatrics On Call Podcast
  • Subscribe
  • Alerts
  • Careers
American Academy of Pediatrics
Article

Historical Perspectives: Berry Brazelton: Le Magnifique

J. Kevin Nugent
NeoReviews November 2019, 20 (11) e615-e621; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1542/neo.20-11-e615
J. Kevin Nugent
*The Brazelton Institute, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • Comments
Loading

This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.

Download PDF

I was privileged to have worked with Berry Brazelton (Fig) for over 40 years. In 1978, as a new graduate student from Ireland, I first looked over his shoulder in the company of his pediatric fellows, as he used the scale he had just developed—the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS)—to examine a less than 1-day-old female newborn in the old Boston Lying-In Hospital. Even as he examined the baby’s reflexes, I was immediately struck by his—what could only be called gentleness, even tenderness—in the way he both held and spoke to the baby. He called her by her first name. “You are so alert, Sarah. Your mother must be very proud of you.” When he took a red ball out of his kit and moved it slowly from 1 side to the other, the baby began to track the ball and locked on to it, as if she did not want to release it from her gaze. “She can see,” blurted her mother, shaking her head in disbelief. When he began to talk to her in lilting, melodic phrases, Sarah’s face relaxed and her eyes widened and brightened. They were now interacting with each other—in a give-and-take, back-and-forth cyclical rhythm that had all the hallmarks of true conversation.

Figure.

Berry Brazelton (courtesy of Insieme photo by Fulvia Farassino).

That babies could see and hear and had a wide repertoire of behavioral endowments at birth was a revelation to me, but Berry Brazelton had just demonstrated that this less than 1-day-old baby also had her own well-defined personalized behavioral style and was already shaping and leaving her mark on the world. She and Berry Brazelton left their mark on me and on all the pediatric fellows who were present on that August day, many years ago.

In this clinical newborn encounter, we …

Individual Login

Log in
You will be redirected to aap.org to login or to create your account.

Institutional Login

via Institution

You may be able to gain access using your login credentials for your institution. Contact your librarian or administrator if you do not have a username and password.

Log in through your institution

If your organization uses OpenAthens, you can log in using your OpenAthens username and password. To check if your institution is supported, please see this list. Contact your library for more details.

Purchase access

You may purchase access to this article. This will require you to create an account if you don't already have one.

Offer Reprints

PreviousNext
Back to top

Advertising Disclaimer »

In this issue

NeoReviews
Vol. 20, Issue 11
1 Nov 2019
  • Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents (PDF)
  • Index by author
  • Complete Issue (PDF)
View this article with LENS
PreviousNext
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on American Academy of Pediatrics.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Historical Perspectives: Berry Brazelton: Le Magnifique
(Your Name) has sent you a message from American Academy of Pediatrics
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the American Academy of Pediatrics web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Request Permissions
Article Alerts
Log in
You will be redirected to aap.org to login or to create your account.
Or Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Citation Tools
Historical Perspectives: Berry Brazelton: Le Magnifique
J. Kevin Nugent
NeoReviews Nov 2019, 20 (11) e615-e621; DOI: 10.1542/neo.20-11-e615

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
Historical Perspectives: Berry Brazelton: Le Magnifique
J. Kevin Nugent
NeoReviews Nov 2019, 20 (11) e615-e621; DOI: 10.1542/neo.20-11-e615
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
Print
Download PDF
Insight Alerts
  • Table of Contents

Jump to section

  • Article
    • “Good with Babies”
    • The Newborn Examination
    • “Courteous to Babies”
    • A New Research Tradition
    • The Development of the NBAS
    • Research with the NBAS
    • Advocating for Parents
    • The Training of Professionals in Child Development
    • Activism and Advocacy
    • The Dance of Ideas
    • Resolve, Humility, and Hope
    • Footnotes
    • Suggested Readings
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • Comments

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Neonatal Encephalopathy: Beyond Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy
  • Perinatal Stroke: A Practical Approach to Diagnosis and Management
  • Updated Guidance: Prevention and Management of Perinatal Group B Streptococcus Infection
Show more Article

Similar Articles

  • Journal Info
  • Editorial Board
  • Overview
  • Licensing Information
  • Authors/Reviewers
  • Author Guidelines
  • Submit My Manuscript
  • Librarians
  • Institutional Subscriptions
  • Usage Stats
  • Support
  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe
  • Resources
  • Media Kit
  • About
  • NeoReviewsPlus
  • International Access
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Statement
  • FAQ
  • AAP.org
  • shopAAP
  • Follow American Academy of Pediatrics on Instagram
  • Visit American Academy of Pediatrics on Facebook
  • Follow American Academy of Pediatrics on Twitter
  • Follow American Academy of Pediatrics on Youtube
  • RSS
  • NeoReviews™ and NeoReviewsPlus™ are supported, in part, through an educational grant from Abbott Nutrition, a division of Abbott Laboratories, Inc.
American Academy of Pediatrics

© 2021 American Academy of Pediatrics