I knew this day was coming, but I’m pleased that it has arrived sooner than I expected. Lactation professionals are backpedaling as fast as they can. I’ve been writing for years that lactation professionals in general, and Baby Friendly USA in particular, have been ignoring scientific evidence in favor of personal biases. Babies and mothers […]
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Whose “fault” is it when a woman doesn’t breastfeed?
Lactation professionals don’t think much of women and their ability to make decisions; they are sure that women who choose to formula feed are ignorant dupes. In Reproductive Health and Maternal Sacrifice, sociologist Pam Lowe offers an excellent description of lactivism in general and the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative in particular. And: The underlying assumption […]
Petition: End shaming, ableist language about infant formula!
There has never been any confusion about the meaning of “infant formula,” but lactation professionals are engaged in a campaign to rebrand it in shaming, ableist language. It started in 1996 with the publication of lactation consultant Diane Weissinger’s “Watch Your Language”: “Artificial feeding, which is neither the same nor superior, is therefore deficient, incomplete, […]
What does the USA Today “secret number” maternity complication rate tell us — if anything?
Years ago, when I was working for a large health maintenance organization, I received a curious letter. It had come to their attention that my forceps rate (0%) was well below the average for obstetricians in our institution. I pointed out that my C-section rate was only 16% and I hadn’t left a single baby […]
Lactivists lying to women “for their own good”
Dr. Gabrielle Colleran, why are you lying to women about breastfeeding? According to attendees at a recent meeting of La Leche League Ireland, you claimed — falsely — that women who give birth but don’t breastfeed have a 4X increased risk of heart attack. The truth is that the scientific literature shows NO consistent relationship […]
I’m uncomfortable about censoring anti-vaccine propaganda on social media
You might think I’d be happy about the censoring of anti-vaccine propaganda by social media. Over the years I’ve written extensively and in scathing terms about the ignorance, arrogance, and immorality of the anti-vax movement. There is no scientific evidence to support its claims; its promoters are quacks and charlatans; and it harms the most […]
Breastfeeding and the culture of contempt
The worst thing about contemporary lactivist culture is not that advocates of “Breast Is Best” disagree with advocates of “Fed Is Best.” The worst thing is that contemporary lactivist culture is a culture of contempt. As I wrote last week, it often seems as if the unifying factor among lactation professionals — the concept around […]
Natural mothering and the technocratic model of love
There are many ironies embedded within the philosophy of natural mothering. Chief among them are the mindless embrace of mothering in nature without acknowledging the natural death toll and the fact that our ancient foremothers would have cut off their right arms for the lifesaving medical technology privileged white women ostentatiously reject in performative social […]
Benefits of breastfeeding are so trivial Charlotte Young, the Analytical Armadillo, can’t find them
Let’s have a round of applause for lactivist Charlotte Young, the Analytical Armadillo and founder of Milk Matters UK. She briefly ventured out of her social media echo chamber and — asked to demonstrate that the benefits of breastfeeding are real — promptly scurried back. Young illustrates in the most emphatic way possible that no […]
How to spot a Defensive Lactation Professional
Lactation professionals are easily triggered by any positive discussion of formula feeding. What does that mean? To be triggered is to experience a strong reaction of shock, anger or fear in response something another person said or wrote. For example, many lactation professionals seem to have experienced tremendous shock, anger and fear in response to […]
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
