Personally, I don't spank, I think its weird to say spank a 2 year old because he bit someone or smacked someone, I mean, aren't you doing the thing you are punishing him for? And my god, a 17 mnth old is just learning everything, why on earth would you want to BEAT him? Your friend doesn't sound like a good friend to me and I, quite frankly, would tell him I didn't need him or his opinions any longer. A 17mnth old should be a free spirit. He's just old enough to start really exploring his world, hitting him would do nothing to enhance his learning process, unless you are wanting to teach him to fear you. I much prefer teaching my son the rules and then teaching him that there are consequences to broken rules. For the life of me, I cannot imagine a single thing a 17 mnth old could do that anyone could ever suggest a beating as punishment. And babies cry. The kid your friend was talking about who doesn't cry has been conditioned to know that his needs will not be met, so he doesn't even try to cry as much (crying is how babies communicate).

Sorry to go off on a rant like that, but I couldn't hold that in. DO NOT let some random person convince you to "beat" your son so he will be quite. I've been around kids this happens to and they are broken and that's really, really sad.