Sorry I’ve been AWOL this morning, but I’ve spent 6 hours furiously typing answers to hundreds of questions on a Reddit Ask Me Anything. You can read it here: Dr. Amy’s Reddit AMA Also, Elissa Strauss of Slate interviewed me for this piece that was just posted: Birth Is Not Performance Art
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Hey, Dr. Jay, maybe you could offer personal belief exemptions for formula feeding
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 […]
If natural childbirth advocates cared about bodily autonomy they’d be recommending epidurals and C-sections
Natural childbirth advocates adore facile arguments. Consider radical doula Elisa Alpert’s screed in New York Magazine’s The Cut. Alpert asks: [pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The natural childbirth industry’s commitment to bodily autonomy for women is a mile wide and an inch deep.[/pullquote] Why is the delivery room the one place where a woman […]
I mother with my entire body. Isn’t that what good mothers do?
To hear natural childbirth advocates and lactivists tell it, the entire story of mothering can be reduced to three body parts: the uterus, the vagina, and breasts. I’ve been thinking about how I have mothered my four children over the past twenty-eight years, and it seems as if I have used just about every part […]
Birth, the way nature intended it to be!
Natural childbirth advocates are like preschoolers who when asked where eggs come from answer, “the store.” Only a preschooler or a natural childbirth advocates could imagine nonsense such as that from Pathways to Wellness Family Magazine: [pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The idea that nature intended childbirth to be safe is hilarious … and […]
Lactivists, please stop pretending that breastfeeding bullying is support!
Adele is right: the pressure on new mothers to breastfeeding is fu**ing ridiculous. The singer was apparently responding to chef Jamie Oliver’s mansplainin’ of breastfeeding as “easy and convenient.” The press has covered both stories with dozens of articles, and breastfeeding advocates could learn a lot from reading those articles carefully. The key point, expressed […]
Adele is right: the pressure on new mothers to breastfeed is fu**ing ridiculous!
When asked at a recent concert about breastfeeding, singer Adele didn’t mince words: [pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]PUSH BACK against the guilt![/pullquote] The “Hello” singer was greeting members of the audience during a performance at London’s O2 Arena when a group asked her about breastfeeding mothers. Adele, who has a three-year-old son, responded […]
Why are we surprised that Robert De Niro is promoting an anti-vaccine movie? As an actor he deals in fantasy.
The most surprising thing about Robert De Niro’s support for screening an anti-vaccine movie at his TriBeCa Film Festival is that anyone is surprised. According to BuzzFeed: [pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]As a narrative device, the anti-vaccine conspiracy is brilliant. [/pullquote] Organizers for the upcoming 2016 Tribeca Film Festival have come under fire […]
Why women hire dangerous homebirth midwives and why preventable deaths are inevitable
Yesterday I wrote about the tragic death of homebirth advocate Caroline Lovell, who bled to death while a midwife blithely ignored her pleas to call an ambulance. That midwife, Gaye Demanuele did not relent until Lovell suffered a cardiorespiratory arrest and by then it was too late. A number of homebirth advocates have insisted that Lovell […]
Of course Caroline Lovell’s homebirth death was preventable; nearly all homebirth deaths are
Homebirth advocacy is based in large part on mistruths, half truths and sometimes outright lies. One of the bigger lies that you often hear in the wake of a homebirth death is “it would have happened in the hospital, too.” No, it wouldn’t have for a very simple reason: when you “trust” birth, you assume […]
Amy Tuteur, MD
Dr. Amy Tuteur is an obstetrician gynecologist. She received her undergraduate degree from Harvard College in 1979 and her medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine in 1984. Dr. Tuteur is a former clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School. She left the practice of medicine to raise her four children. Her book, Push Back: Guilt in the Age of Natural Parenting (HarperCollins) was published in 2016. She can be reached at DrAmy5 at aol dot com... More
