Luther Emmett Holt

Luther Emmett Holt
Dr. L. E. Holt (center) while lecturing at Peking Union Medical College, 1923.
Born	March 4, 1855 Webster, New York
Died	January 14, 1924 (1924-01-15) (aged 68) Peking, China
Fields	Pediatrician
Institutions	American Pediatric Society, Rockefeller Institute
Alma mater	Rochester University, Columbia University, Brown University
Known for	The Care and Feeding of Children, The Diseases of Infancy and Childhood, Certified Milk
Notable awards	John Howland Award (1966)

Luther Emmett Holt (March 4, 1855 – January 14, 1924) was an American pediatrician and author, noted for writing The Care and Feeding of Children: A Catechism for the Use of Mothers and Children's Nurses in 1894.

Born near Rochester, New York, Holt graduated from the University of Rochester in 1875. He went to medical school in the University at Buffalo and then the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, earning his M.D. in 1880. He pioneered the science of pediatrics, and became the head physician at New York's Babies Hospital in 1888. Under his leadership it became the leading pediatric hospital of its time.

One of Holt's most notable accomplishments is the introduction of milk certification in New York City. Using a grant he acquired through his connection with the Rockefeller Institute Holt surveyed the quality of milk in the tenement districts and subsequently proved that a large proportion of infant fatalities were due to excessively high bacterial counts. He was instrumental in the creation of milk commissions and advisory boards for the city's Department of Health.

Holt became the medical director of the Babies Hospital in 1889. At his first rounds examining the patients, he noted with interest, the practice of the nurses there in maintaining a clipboard at the bedside (cribside) upon which important clinical information was being kept. He began adding physician observations to it, and thus was born the "medical record" or "chart". The head of nursing at that time had a set of lecture notes, which she used in the education of parents. He adapted it into a book which became the standard child rearing text The Care and Feeding of Children: A Catechism for the Use of Mothers and Children's Nurses (1894). This remained the pre-eminent guide until Psychological Care of Infant and Child (Watson 1928) and then Baby and Child Care (Spock 1946). Holt promoted the idea of regimented and disciplined parenting. His book included a schedule of activities (such as toilet training) to be learned at specific ages, and meals to at regular hours to "prevent disease". He advised that: "Babies under six months should never be played with: and the less of it at anytime the better for the infant. They are made nervous and irritable, sleep badly and suffer from indigestion."