Promoting normal birth is always and only about promoting midwives. Many years ago, when I first heard the phrase “promoting normal birth” I was confused. Why would a healthcare professional be promoting any set of procedures or any particular approach to a health issue? You won’t find any real medical professional who insists that he […]
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Royal College of Midwives forced to shutter Campaign for Normal Birth after countless deaths
It’s tremendous vindication of everything I’ve been writing for years, but tragically it has come too late for countless babies, mothers and families. The Royal College of Midwives has finally, FINALLY, been forced to end its Campaign for Normal Birth in abject failure. Oh, they successfully promoted “normal birth” alright. But they repeatedly sacrificed the […]
Another baby grievously harmed by homebirth; another mother desperately pretending it’s not her fault
Imagine reading about a baby desperately injured after being ejected through the windshield when her mother’s car was hit. Imagine that the mother had failed to buckle the child into a car seat because she didn’t “believe in them” for short trips like the one she was taking to the grocery store. Now imagine that the […]
Breastfeeding babies to death
If you want to understand the state of breastfeeding promotion in the US today, there’s no better place to start than the vast gulf between lactivists’ (“Breast Is Best”) fears and nurturists’ (“Fed Is Best”) fears. Lactivists fear that breastfeeding won’t be supported; nurturists fear that babies won’t be supported. There is something very, very […]
Dear Serena Williams, childbirth will NOT make you a real woman
Dear Ms. Williams, I was shocked to read that you — a feminist icon — have fallen prey to sexism. Speaking about the impending birth of your first child, you told Herald Sun’s Stellar: I am about to be a real woman now, you know? It’s going to be something incredibly impressive to go through. […]
If you support a woman who lets her baby die, you bear responsibility
This post is for the apologists parachuting in to my blog and Facebook page attempting to excuse their role in a baby’s death. Yesterday I wrote about the Facebook group Ten Month Mamas who cheered a woman as she refused to seek care for an extremely postdates pregnancy, 44 weeks by her reckoning. As complication […]
Ten Month Mamas cheers a woman to her baby’s death
Homebirth, like most of alternative health, is about two things. Not mother and baby; don’t be silly! It’s about defiance and denial. Homebirth especially is about defiance. Women routinely risk their baby’s lives — the greater the risk, the better — while flaunting their transgressiveness before their peers. That’s why there are so many Facebook […]
World Breastfeeding Week 2017, another ridiculous lactivist campaign
I’ve been writing about mothering issues for over a decade and that gives me an interesting perspective on lactivist marketing campaigns: they’re constantly changing because they never work to lactivists’ satisfaction. The latest campaign has been trotted out for World Breastfeeding Week 2017: ending poverty, protecting the planet and ensuring prosperity. This campaign is going […]
Not a single country in the world meets WHO standards for breastfeeding? So what?
Lactivists are bemoaning the latest breastfeeding report from the World Health Organization. As USA Today reports: No country in the world supports breastfeeding moms like they should, according to a new report released Tuesday by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)… By comparing breastfeeding rates around the world, the […]
It’s World Breastfeeding Week and it’s time to stop the lactivist madness
It’s an amazing fluid with amazing properties. It is critical to health and well being. It is adaptive: it’s amount and constituents can change as circumstances change. Human beings could never have survived and thrived to this point without it. No, it’s not breastmilk. It’s sweat … and it’s arguably just as important to human […]
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
