I suppose if you’re going to be a hypocrite, you might as well jump in with both feet.
I’ve been arguing about breastfeeding on Twitter with anti-vax hero Dr. Jay Gordon.
We started with this:
Dr. Jay decided to take a whack at me after I questioned his claim that not breastfeeding is a “major risk factor” for ear infections. Since high quality research shows that breastfeeding reduced the incidence of ear infections by only 8%, formula feeding couldn’t possibly be a major risk factor.
[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Here’s a crazy idea: let’s ask women themselves why they choose formula![/pullquote]
Dr. Jay refused to answer a direct question, a move he made over and over again in our conversation.
Instead he offered a personal attack. But how could I be anti-breastfeeding when I breastfed 4 children? Dr. Jay couldn’t answer that one, either.
Then Dr. Gordon offered the standard trope of the breastfeeding industry:
Most of the time that breastfeeding did not succeed it was because we docs did not offer enough support and/or find a good IBCLC
Dr. Gordon is an IBCLC.
Lactivists claim over and over again that women stop breastfeeding because of lack of support.
Here’s a crazy idea: let’s ask women themselves instead of having lactivists speculate that what was needed was more support from the breastfeeding industry!
Dr. Jay apparently thinks he knows better than formula feeders.
Practicing pediatricians know the consequences of moms NOT breastfeeding. Everything from increased SIDS to GI problems. This creates a very strong desire to give maximum support and encouragement to breastfeeding mothers.
Holy Hypocrisy, Dr. Jay! Aren’t you the same guy who offers personal belief exemptions for vaccine refusal?
Didn’t you say this to CBS?
If somebody with measles walked into Dr. Gordon’s office, 90 percent of the unvaccinated people who come in contact with them would get measles.
I asked Dr. Gordon to explain how that type of contagion isn’t a risk.
“You just said it, they’d get measles,” Dr. Gordon replied. “Not meningitis, not the plague, not Ebola, they’d get measles. Measles is almost an always a benign childhood illness.”
So it’s okay for kids to get measles from being unvaccinated, but you think ear infections are a major public health problem requiring you to hector women into breastfeeding?
I, of course, followed up with the obvious question:
Can you please compare for us the death rate for term babies aren’t breastfed vs. those who aren’t vaccinated?
He did not respond.
The incident highlights the hypocrisy of the anti-vax movement, but it also highlights a very serious deficiency of the lactivist movement, the refusal to listen to women who choose formula feeding.
The breastfeeding industry would rather substitute it’s own self-serving views of why women formula feed (they didn’t hire a lactation consultant and pay for support) than to acknowledge that breastfeeding can be difficult, painful and fail to produce enough milk to nourish a baby.
Perhaps Dr. Jay might change his mind about formula feeding if he could find a way to profit from that, too. I humbly suggest personal belief exemptions for formula feeding. Maybe then Dr. Gordon would respect women who formula feed as much as he respects women who don’t vaccinate.
