A tremendous amount of ink has been spilled by doctors, scientists and public health officials pondering the bizarre beliefs of anti-vaccine parents. How can they promote such obvious nonsense? Why don’t they respond to efforts to improve their knowledge base? Why can’t we get them to understand the risks they pose to society in general […]
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Myrna, Mira and the rise of performative mothering
Yesterday I wrote about the way that mothering has changed between fictional grandmother Myrna and her fictional granddaughter Mira. Myrna assumed that her child would turn out fine without any special effort. Mira assumes her child will be a fat, unhappy, failure unless she interposes herself between him and the myriad risks she imagines he […]
The relentlessness of modern mothering reflects the differences between Myrna and Mira
The piece in yesterday’s New York Times, The Relentlessness of Modern Parenting, has generated 1000 comments and counting. Parenthood in the United States has become much more demanding than it used to be. Over just a couple of generations, parents have greatly increased the amount of time, attention and money they put into raising children. […]
Amber teething necklaces: a deadly form of maternal micro-branding
Every war requires uniforms so that you can tell ally from enemy. The mommy wars are no exception. Amber teething necklaces for infants are part of the crunchy mommy “look” that allows self-described natural mothers to signal their allied status to other crunchy moms and to set them apart from the mainstream. Too bad that […]
Unethical behavior of breastfeeding researcher sets back cause of protecting babies from starvation and smothering CORRECTED
I received an email from Harry Orf, PhD, Senior Vice President for Research, and Research Integrity Officer Massachusetts General Hospital informing me that I disseminated incorrect information. Much to my regret I repeated false claims and mischaracterized the situation. For that I am deeply sorry and want to correct the record as soon as I […]
Lotus birth leaves a newborn critically ill with a heart infection
A new paper in Clinical Pediatrics, Umbilical Cord Nonseverance and Adverse Neonatal Outcomes, reports on babies harmed by the bizarre practice of lotus birth. Lotus birth is the latest fad in the world of birth performance art. It used to be that women got pregnant with the intention of having a baby. In 2018, among […]
Is tongue-tie surgery the new episiotomy?
They created the surgical procedure with the best of intentions. They wanted to prevent serious problems and it seemed to them the best way to do it. Unfortunately they were wrong and a lot of unnecessary suffering was the result. I’m talking about episiotomy, but I could be talking about painful newborn tongue-tie surgery. How […]
What glasses can teach us about insufficient breastmilk
Vision. It’s arguably the most important of our 5 senses. It allows us to see a grain of salt, a mountain in the distance and everything in between. It is the key to game hunting, to precision manufacturing, to hitting a home run. It is 100% natural. All human beings are “designed” to see. Curiously, […]
Why does lactivist Prof. Amy Brown keep lying about breastfeeding physiology?
One of the most distressing things about breastfeeding advocates is the cavalier way in which they dismiss the suffering of starving babies. It bears an uncomfortable resemblance to the way that drug companies cavalierly dismiss the suffering of patients when they learn of deadly side effects of medication. Both promote profits ahead of people. For […]
Breast cancer risk: what’s breastfeeding got to do with it?
Two articles on breast cancer risk were published this week and they provide a window on the politics of breastfeeding. The first paper is Learning, Life, and Lactation: Knowledge of Breastfeeding’s Impact on Breast Cancer Risk Reduction and Its Influence on Breastfeeding Practices. It received a fair amount of press, including articles like Study finds […]
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
