“Listen to your patient, [s]he is telling you the diagnosis.” Those are the words of William Osler often called the Father of Modern Medicine for his contributions to the development of medical education. I first heard them from the chief of surgery at the beginning of my internship. It is almost always true, the patient […]
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This is what not enough breastmilk looks like
The image is horrifying. The story behind it is possibly even more horrifying. It is featured in a BabyCenter blog entitled Giving thanks for formula during World Breastfeeding Week. Midwife and photographer Marry Fermont took the photo during an internship in Cambodia. Fermont explains: One day I saw a woman with two little babies who […]
Is breast best or does nourishing=flourishing?
It’s everywhere. On doctors’ lips and in lactation consultants’ exhortations. In advertisements and on the walls of public assistance clinics. Heck, it’s even emblazoned around cans of formula. I’m talking about the admonition that “breast is best.” “Breast is best” is awesome from a public relations point of view, but is it really true? Is […]
How lactivists treat formula feeders: shame, blame, repeat!
My piece for TIME, Why I’m Not Celebrating World Breastfeeding Week has apparently hit a nerve. Tens of thousands of people have read it. Overall the reaction has been very positive: lots of Facebook likes, Tweets and expressions of gratitude both public and private. The negative responses, nearly all from women who have breastfed successfully, […]
My latest piece for TIME
It’s World Breastfeeding Week, but I’m not celebrating. Here’s the reason: Why I’m Not Celebrating World Breastfeeding Week.
Honor your yoni!
You can’t make this stuff up! From Tribe de Mama: Yoni. An all encompassing name for our sacred portal. Vagina, clit, labia, lips, g spot, womb… A portal of power & wisdom. We are here to help one another birth a new way of being. A new way of honoring. We must take the time […]
I apologize to Monica; her baby had multiple congenital anomalies.
I wrote yesterday that Monica’s friends insisted that her baby, the 7th baby who died at homebirth last week, died of multiple congenital anomalies. I promised to publicly apologize to Monica if there truly was an autopsy report detailing the anomalies. Within the past hour, Monica’s friend Cassie Elizabeth forward the fetal death certificate that […]
Ruth Rodley’s master class for homebirth advocates on lying to themselves and others
Ruth Rodley feels sorry for herself. In Saturday’s piece I quoted her brutal dismissal of the 7 babies who died at homebirth last week as “hickups.” …she is so anti homebirth, that she will find ANY story about homebirth that may have had a little hickup [sic] and totally throw it out of proportion. There […]
He’s a spastic quadriplegic as a result, but she’s glad she had a homebirth
I have no words to truly capture the ugly narcissism of some homebirth advocates, but apparently they do. Had this brave little chickie at home 6/1 … And didn’t go quite as planned. She was born unresponsive. No oxygen to her brain for unknown amount of time. Straight to the hospital (I was still […]
Ruth Rodley thinks dead babies are “hickups”
Homebirth advocates are panicking. At least 7 babies have died at homebirth in the past weeks. Although homebirth advocates are excellent at denial, even they are having a tough time explaining this away. Consider Ruth Rodley, an administrator of one of the most dangerous and notorious homebirth Facebook groups. Here’s what Ruth had to say […]
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
