Hi there I received a letter off ofcom yesterday stating that C4 wasn't in breach, and it also goes on about the abuse of children ect. and basically I think it was a waste of time, because they go mad over a word being said on Big brother yet do nothing on the issues surrounding the BUB, and basically do nothing about claire verity's comments and the way she advised those parents to go against what health professionals say like the early weaning, and the mentor of the spock method who said you should go into a public toilet to breast feed your baby, I think personally more should be done, I understand that C4 did edit stuff out of the programme and really it's them, that made stuff look bad or worse than it was. However what do other people think?

Hello little julie,

I had the same letter. It was very depressing.

From the 752 complaints, they choose to divide the concerns into 4 headings (paraphrased here for those who didn't see the letter).
(1) that “unethical, abusive, or neglectful” techniques were employed.
Also under this heading were techniques that were against current guidelines, eg WHO or UK government advice.
(2) children were put at risk of harm,
(3) mentors not properly qualified, and
(4) by not highlighting the potentially harmful effects of some of the practices featured, they put the safety of infants in viewers care at risk.

In the next part of the letter, where they outline their own responsibilities and quote from the ‘Code Rules’ I was delighted and encouraged to read:

“Ofcom considers the standards it has set for the protection of children to be amongst the most important in the code. These rules are aimed at preventing children suffering any unnecessary distress or anxiety as a result of being involved in a programme or by its broadcast….”

“People under the age of 18 must not be caused unnecessary distress or anxiety by their involvement in programmes or by the broadcast of those programmes”

“Due care must be taken over the physical and emotional welfare and the dignity of people under eighteen who take part……”

Also that factual programmes must not materially mislead the audience, and that dangerous behaviour must not be condoned.

Well, this all sounded very enlightened, surely if they’ve recognised that, then they can’t avoid agreeing with the complainants.

They do remind us however:

“Ofcom’s role does not extend to investigating allegations of child abuse, which is the role of the relevant authorities”

But at the end of the letter it states that the complaints were not upheld. How come?
I’ll say why I disagree with them.

Ofcom describe “whether a baby should be left to cry; or when a baby should be weaned” as “controversial”. This term is used as an excuse, when really there is not that much controversy amongst genuine authorities here. Maybe the writers of the report have not read and understood the current literature in the field, and that is why they think it’s controversial.
Later they use this defence again saying that the programme makers made it clear that the methods were controversial.

Disappointing but true: Ofcom did find a few experts who were willing to claim that the babies were not put at risk (although no-one claimed that the babies weren’t caused distress).
Their claim that the programme makers “sought relevant independent advice” is misleading though, because we already know from this forum that many experts were consulted who would have nothing to do with the programmes and they had to search hard to find any who would condone it.

Strangely, the letter says: “It should be noted that Ofcom has not received a complaint from the parents who participated in the programmes” (I say “strangely” because the perpetrators are hardly likely to complain to Ofcom about their own actions)
Babies, however communicate in many and varied ways, the most obvious is by crying. Remember those babies crying alone in their prams? Their cries were an expression of their fear and loneliness, a heartfelt plea to their caregivers for comfort, and a complaint to Ofcom in the only way they knew how.

Ofcom also say they didn’t receive complaints from health care professionals involved in the provision of the standard care to the participating families.

Ofcom have unquestioningly accepted the premise that it is legitimate to ‘experiment’ on the babies and compare the three so-called methods. (I use the word experiment loosely as its obviously not scientific.)

Then there is the paragraph on Human Rights. I had to re-read that but what they are saying is that they can’t curtail the broadcaster’s right to impart information (or audience’s right to receive it) unless the broadcast breaks the law (by being truly offensive, harmful etc). It is ironic that they should bring Human Rights into it.

So, in short, I agree with you.

O I am very sorry, my post has reappeared, I think the error was that I'd saved the URL of the page and it was an unrefreshed one. My apologies! (please could the moderator remove the duplicate post when you have time?)

Complete nonsense from Ofcom and i am complaining. Claiming the programme makers did all they could to ensure the wellbeing of the babies involved!
Yep they just kept asking experts until they found some complewtely behind in their field and said yes to the programme. Never mind the hundreds of experts who condemn the methods of Verity. The programme makers were fully aware before the programme was made of the harm Verity's way can cause. Yet they still went ahead.

Now this lovely Help Me Love My Baby is on, can't quite believe this is the same channel that televised neglect those weeks back!