The Skeptical OB

Kimberly Sears Allers is shocked, shocked, that fear is being used in discussions of infant feeding. Her piece on Lactation Matters, the blog of the International Lactation Consultant Association, is part of the new #FactsNotFear lactivist campaign created to combat the message of the Fed Is Best Foundation that breastfeeding has risks as well as benefits. […]

Is there anything more emblematic of white privilege than medical colonialism? Colonialism is the practice one country occupying another country or region and exploiting it for the benefit of the occupier. Medical colonialism is the practice of exploiting black bodies, knowledge and practices and co-opting them for the benefit of the well off white people. […]

People who venerate the natural imagine that this is nature. [pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The cute baby zebra is perfectly designed to be lunch for lions.[/pullquote] It’s a cute little baby zebra, galloping with the herd. It’s perfectly designed to keep up with it’s mother. Born from her body, it was perfectly designed […]

Australian midwife Lisa Barrett is standing astride a pile of tiny dead bodies and … laughing. Apparently dead babies are hilarious. Barrett has presided over the death of at least six babies, the five I wrote about earlier this week and a sixth that remains unnamed. You might have thought that would have sobered her. […]

Finally!! We’ve waited a long time for the image above. It’s photo of homebirth midwife Lisa Barrett in handcuffs, arrested in connection with the deaths of babies in her care. [pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]She faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.[/pullquote] Controversial homebirth advocate Lisa Barrett has been granted bail after she […]

When I was in elementary school, this was a popular riddle: A plane crashed on the exact border between the US and Canada. Where did they bury the survivors? Much hilarity ensued after various guesses since you don’t bury survivors. Only those who died are buried. I am reminded of that riddle when I read […]

Kate Tietje, Modern Alternative Mama, is expecting her sixth child and planning a natural pregnancy. A natural pregnancy is an ignorant pregnancy … literally. Nearly every single aspect of modern obstetrics is preventive medicine. Nearly every test is a screening test designed to provide women with information they can use to improve their health and […]

“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” These were Winston Churchill’s words in November 1940 after a seemingly endless series of defeats fighting the Germans in WWII was succeeded by a victory. There were still four years of […]

I read and loved The Hunger Games series of books. For those who haven’t read them or seen the movies, The Hunger Games describes a dystopian society forced each year to send some of their youngest members to the “games” that are a literally fight to the death. The leaders of the dystopian society view […]

It’s an oft stated and remarkably valuable aphorism: “Don’t listen to what people say; watch what they do.” In other words, though people may give lip service to a variety of morally elevating thoughts, their personal beliefs are reflected not in their words, but in their behavior. [pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Don’t listen […]