One of the most pernicious results of our unthinking embrace of lactivism is the impact on women’s mental health. My email inbox is filled with messages from women who hate themselves, blame themselves and are nearly incapacitated by guilt at being unable to breastfeed exclusively. Why? It’s certainly not because breastfeeding in industrialized countries is […]
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Midwives think it is more important to rescue women from technology than to rescue babies from death
I don’t think I’ve ever read anything as heartless, coldblooded and self-interested as this anywhere else in the scientific literature. Midwives have a pesky problem. Many people think that having a live baby is more important than having an unhindered birth. That’s especially true for the medical professional that has the thoroughly annoying habit of […]
It all worked so perfectly … except for the part where the baby couldn’t breathe
Which came first, the homebirth or the narcissism? [pullquote align=”right” color=”#E4A4B2″]Still in amazement that this lovely bonnie girl came out of my vagina! [/pullquote] My HBAC this morning was at 42+1 and my little girl’s placenta was giant and healthy, zero calcifications or signs of age. Too bad her baby was giant, but […]
Birth plans, birth trauma and Birthzilla
I have written before that birth plans are worse than useless and a new study lends credence to that view. Birth plans engender hostility from the staff, are usually filled with outdated and irrelevant preferences, and create unrealistic expectations among expectant mothers. But the worst thing about birth plans is they don’t work. They don’t […]
Oregon dramatically tightens homebirth coverage requirements
In a tremendous victory for the mother and babies of Oregon, and a tremendous repudiation of homebirth midwives, Oregon has dramatically tightened the requirements for coverage of homebirth. In many ways, homebirth midwives led by Melissa Cheyney, brought this on themselves. Their utter contempt for safety requirements of any kind led to their marginalization. Four […]
Natural childbirth is an industry
Why do even sophisticated people fail to recognize that natural childbirth is an industry? It’s probably because they equate “industry” with large amounts of money. True, individual natural childbirth professionals don’t make a lot of money, but for most, it represents 100% of their income. That’s why they have a tremendous financial incentive to convince […]
Maura and her no good, very bad, nearly deadly Bali homebirth
Who could have seen that coming? Remember Maura? She’s the woman whose in utero single footling breech daughter “told her” to go to Bali for her homebirth? Despite being counselled by everyone and their midwives that homebirth was not a safe option in her situation, Maura “knew” that it was the right choice. Of course […]
Forceps and incontinence
Jill Raleigh Fischer, a nurse, wrote about her experience with forceps and incontinence on The Skeptical OB Facebook page in response to my piece Incontinence: the traumatic result of vaginal birth that dare not speak its name. Jill gave me permission to share it on the blog. She was motivated to share her experience after […]
La Leche League’s response to claims of overselling breastfeeding is both pathetic and bullying
Way to go La Leche League! Thanks for proving Courtney Jung’s points for her. In advance of the publication of her new book Lactivism, Jung wrote an op-ed in the NYTimes, Overselling Breast-Feeding. The benefits associated with breast-feeding just don’t seem to warrant the scrutiny and interventions surrounding American infant feeding practices. What are those […]
The sexist origins of attachment parenting
There has been considerable debate about whether attachment parenting is anti-feminist, placing as it does a tremendous burden on mothers to have an unmedicated childbirth, breastfeed exclusively for a year or years, carry a baby constantly, and let the baby sleep in the marital bed. So where did attachment parenting come from? Bill and Martha […]
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
