Nearly everything you think you know about mother-infant bonding is untrue … and that’s not an accident. Where did the pseudoscientific beliefs about bonding come from and why did they ...
Spotlight
Is the American Academy of Pediatrics morally culpable for the harm they cause by promoting breastfeeding?
It is the LEADING risk factor for newborn hospital readmission. It is ...
Fuck the biological norm!
Breastfeeding is the biological norm. So right-handedness. So is heterosexuality. So is ...
How to spot a breastsuffering apologist
I’d like to propose a new term: breastsuffering. Breastsuffering refers to the ...
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The pseudoscience of bonding and the effort to control women
Nearly everything you think you know about mother-infant bonding is untrue … and that’s not an accident. Where did the pseudoscientific beliefs about bonding come from and why did they appear when they did? It wasn’t because we were experiencing an epidemic of unbonded children. Why have pseudoscientific beliefs been maintained for the past generation? […]
ICAN of Huntsville crucifies a physician ally
It started with a sign. Please let us know if you hire a doula during your pregnancy as Dr. Aguayo has decided not to collaborate with doulas or other lay support people… Please feel free to discuss any questions or concerns at your appointment. It has escalated to a full fledged attack on a doctor […]
The decision to stop breastfeeding as an act of love
I’ve written repeatedly about the toll of illness, injury and death that the relentless promotion of breastfeeding takes on babies. That’s because it is easy to see the damage: tens of thousands of babies readmitted to the hospital each year, as well as babies who suffer permanent brain injuries or even die due to dehydration, […]
Is the American Academy of Pediatrics morally culpable for the harm they cause by promoting breastfeeding?
It is the LEADING risk factor for newborn hospital readmission. It is responsible for the hospitalization of TENS OF THOUSANDS of newborn babies each year, not to mention an untold number of brain injuries and deaths from dehydration, hyperbilirubinemia and hypoglycemia. And yet, the American Academy of Pediatrics continues to promote it. Yesterday the AAP […]
Fuck the biological norm!
Breastfeeding is the biological norm. So right-handedness. So is heterosexuality. So is continuing unwanted pregnancy. Why do lactivists give moral authority to nature when it comes to breastfeeding but deny that same moral authority when handedness, sexuality and unwanted pregnancy are involved? Why do they pathologize women who don’t breastfeed, encouraging moral condemnation, but would […]
How to spot a breastsuffering apologist
I’d like to propose a new term: breastsuffering. Breastsuffering refers to the large and growing toll of aggressive breastfeeding promotion. Breastsuffering encompasses breastfeeding starvation, breastfeeding suffocation and breastfeeding skull fractures for babies and breastfeeding guilt, anxiety and depression for mothers. Sadly, lactation professionals and lactivists have become apologists for breastsuffering. More than three decades ago […]
Why do natural mothering advocates pretend that all babies are alike?
One of the best things about having four children is that you quickly learn that each is an individual from the moment of birth. One infant loves to be snuggled; another hates it. One baby is soothed by a pacifier; another refuses it altogether. One child is constantly striving for new experiences and milestones; another […]
Why should you trust birth if you can’t trust pregnancy?
Homebirth advocates, despite their claims of being “educated” about childbirth, are generally quite ignorant. They lack the basic knowledge of science, statistics and obstetrics that would allow them to evaluate what they read on the Web (or more importantly, to recognize that you cannot become educated by reading on the Web). Ignorance is not the […]
The five hungers at the heart of lactivism
Why is a public health campaign that has lasted for more than 25 years and produced ZERO return on investment still being promoted aggressively? I’m referring, of course, to the campaign to increase breastfeeding rates. There are many reasons including institutional inertia and the fact that an entire group of ancillary health professionals — lactation […]
The latest in toxic lactivist rhetoric: breastfeeding “goals”
Fed Is Best is winning! How do I know? Because lactation professionals keep falling back. The latest effort involves defending their relentless pressure on women by invoking breastfeeding “goals.” “Breast is best” and the “Baby Friendly” Hospital Initiative represented frontal assaults on women’s psyches. Since at least 1996, lactation professionals have sought to promote breastfeeding […]
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
