Bringing Up Baby

An Evolutionary View of Pediatrics

By: Paul Turke MD PhD

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

“Bringing Up Baby is the first book on evolutionary pediatrics. Paul Turke is a uniquely qualified author, with doctoral degrees in medicine and anthropology, a deep knowledge of evolutionary biology, and decades of clinical experience. In addition to practical advice, he offers evolutionary explanations, with dozens of vivid examples and engaging reminiscences enlivened by good humor on nearly every page. Read it!”
-Randolph Nesse, MD

“This is a fascinating, beautifully written, and scientifically rigorous book. I recommend it to all parents, and for everyone else who is interested in human nature, evolution, medicine, or childhood. Read it, you will love it!”
-Bernard Crespi, PhD


Have you ever wondered why newborns need vitamin K, why they don’t sleep through the night, how much to worry about neonatal jaundice (hint: not much), what’s up with teenage angst, and why are childhood food allergies soaring? Bringing Up Baby uses evolutionary theory and what’s known about our evolutionary history to answer these questions and more that pediatricians hear over and over again from parents seeking advice on how to raise happy, healthy, kind, thoughtful children. It also answers many questions that most physicians and medical scientists have not thought to ask, like these: why can’t women reproduce without men, say by becoming parthenogens; why are babies born young; why are children better able to tolerate a grain-based diet than their grandparents; and why is antidepressant use among the elderly so common?

The book begins by describing how evolutionary biologists identify adaptations—traits such as fever, cough, and the pain and swelling that accompany sprains and strains, which generally should be left alone to do their jobs. It ends with the proposition that we evolved our extra long lifespans to help care for young dependent relatives, particularly grandchildren. And although there are many ways to build a happy life, beyond a certain age, one nearly surefire approach is to continue to be an asset to those who rely on us, whether they be children, grandchildren, or the most evolutionarily recent additions to our families: pets!