The Skeptical OB

I have a thought experiment for those decrying the fact that I highlighted a woman’s publicly proclaimed justification for choosing homebirth again after her first child suffered serious brain damage during homebirth. What if the same woman had written “Drunk driving after brain damage” and it went something like this: Unlike most drunk drivers whose […]

Does homebirth encourage narcissism or do narcissists choose homebirth? There’s no question that homebirth encourages narcissism by creating a false equivalence between a mother’s experience and a baby’s health, brain function and life. I will admit that it is unfathomable to me that any woman would think that her experience is anywhere near as important […]

It’s getting harder and harder to parody natural childbirth and homebirth advocates because there is virtually nothing I can write that is more absurd than how they actually behave. No sooner did I finish yesterday’s satire on the Sanctimommy Olympics, joking that a gold medal performance in birth does not require the baby to survive, […]

Lost in all the hype around the real Olympics, another festival is taking place in Oregon, the Sanctimommy Olympics. The Sanctimommy Olympics, like the real Olympics, awards outstanding performances in a variety of events. Like the real Olympics, the Sanctimommy Olympics has strength events, speed events, distance events,and endurance events. Plus there are special categories […]

North Carolina is on track to meet or exceed the horrifying toll of 5 known deaths last year. The first occurred in May. The second occurred in Wilmington in late May/early June. It was the result of a shoulder dystocia at an attempted HBAC (homebirth after cearean). Now comes word of a third death. The […]

Breastfeeding and sex share something in common and it isn’t just breasts. It’s the apparently irresistible urge of some people to force their personal beliefs on other people. The stated desire of lactivists, like those promoting the Latch On NYC breastfeeding program, to “protect” breastfeeding bears an uncomfortable resemblance to the stated desire of religious […]

The folks at Latch On NYC, apparently stung by the large and growing chorus of criticism, are backpedaling as fast as they can. In my piece for TIME, Breastfeeding Wars: Why Locking Up Baby Formula Is A Bad Idea, I pointed out: … Most mothers give a great deal of consideration to feeding methods before […]

At a dinner party several months ago, one of the guests, a psychiatric social worker, asked me what I do. I explained that I blog about issues of pseudoscience in parenting. She became very excited and asked me if I had ever heard of attachment parenting. She has been seeing an ever increasing number of […]

If you can’t access the embedded video, you can watch it here.

Here’s what they saying in support of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s mandate to encourage breastfeeding by putting formula under lock and key: Additional information can help the mother make a fully informed decision. This plan does not change a woman’s ability to make her own choice. This program is a victory for women […]