Yesterday I wrote about why you can’t trust lactation consultants to understand scientific literature.
I used a post in which an IBCLC insisted the fact that 1 in 71 exclusively breastfed babies are re-hospitalized for complications is not supported by the scientific evidence. I’ve repeatedly cited the claim and the paper that it comes from. The LC read the wrong paper; misunderstood what she read; and the paper she referenced actually has a HIGHER readmission rate.
Fed Is Best threatens lactation consultants’ income, employment prospects and autonomy. No wonder they’re opposed.
The LC has now “disappeared” her post without acknowledging she was wrong in nearly every respect. So not only can she not be trusted to read the scientific literature; she can’t be trusted to admit when she is wrong and apologize.
Today I offer an example of why lactation consultants cannot be trusted to be honest about the Fed Is Best Foundation.
Serena Mayer, RN IBCLC wrote:
Have you heard about Fed is Best? It’s an organization that believes that the Baby Friendly Initiative is responsible for pushing breastfeeding in a way that essentially starves babies. There is a lot of carefully cloaked vitriol about breastfeeding and brain damage, starvation and death. It makes me feel pretty argumentative; not about the fact that babies can lose more than we would like, but at the goals of the organization as I perceive them.
The name is a real teeth clencher for me and other International Board Certified Lactation Consultants. “Fed is Best”, is a highly charged three words that no one really wants to disagree with. The rhetoric flows untapped within their organization and it appears that they drop all the hot words on parents; words like “starvation” and “dead” are used a lot in their materials.
If you don’t understand what’s wrong with that, try this thought experiement. Imagine if we replaced Fed Is Best with MeToo:
Have you heard about #MeToo? It’s an movement that believes that some men harm women, there is a lot vitriol about touching, misogyny & discrimination. It makes me feel pretty argumentative.
The name is a real teeth clencher for me and other men’s rights activists. #MeToo is a highly charged two words that no one really wants to disagree with. The rhetoric flows untapped within their movement and it appears that they drop all the hot words on women; words like “harassment” and “assault” are used a lot in their materials…
Can you see the disrespect of women? The refusal to believe their stories? The implication that lactation consultants know better than the women whose babies suffered under lactation consultants’ ministrations?
Meyer continues with a reprehensible stream of lies and fabrications.
It’s a classic example of testimonial silencing. Lactation professionals routinely treat women with breastfeeding complications exactly the same way many men treat women who report sexual harassment: they aren’t believed; they are pathologized and they are viewed as trouble makers.
Tactics include: erasure from breastfeeding literature, gaslighting, pathologizing, claiming “lack of support,” disparaging women’s stories and banning from social media feeds.
I pointed this out in the comments but Meyer didn’t respond.
I posted a comment asking: What’s the difference between a doctor who tells a woman her experience is meaningless compared to his training and a lactation consultant who tells a woman her experience is meaningless compared to her training?
Meyer responded by claiming that she was trying to have a “serious” conversation about Fed Is Best.
Taking her at her word I asked her to provide quotations for claims that the Foundation offers “dangerous, anti-breastfeeding rhetoric.” She wouldn’t (or more likely couldn’t) provide any.
I asked: “how many of the Foundation’s 750,000 followers have you spoken to about their experiences? Zero?”
Meyer responded with: “Did you read my post?”
And: “Anyways, thanks for the traffic.”
In other words, she spoke to ZERO women who were helped to breastfeed by the Foundation and ZERO women who were supported in whatever choices they chose to make. Why confuse yourself with the facts, right Serena?
And this is why you can’t trust lactation professionals when they criticize Fed Is Best. They imagine they can speak FOR women who suffer breastfeeding complications without ever speaking TO them.
Mayer does offer this:
I can see the appeal of fed is best.
But I can’t support their political aims and the policies they wish to have in place in hospitals…
I’m not sure what she means by the “appeal” of fed is best. The fact that it’s true? The fact that it provides comfort to millions of women? The fact that it fights against the massive numbers of breastfeeding complications and re-hospitalizations that occur each year?
In contrast, I completely understand what Meyer means by being unable to support the aims and policies of the Foundation. Those aims and policies threaten lactation consultants’ income, employment prospects and autonomy. Those apparently matter more to lactation consultants like Serena Meyer than either babies’ health or mothers’ anguish.
Which leads us to a simple rule of thumb: don’t trust any lactation consultant who claims to speak FOR women who suffer breastfeeding complications without ever bothering to speak TO them.
Addendum: In the wake of this piece, Meyer has edited her original post and DELETED more than 200 comments that pointed out her lies and misrepresentations. This further confirms that you can’t trust lactation professionals to tell the truth.
