Medical ethicist Susanne Brauer has written: Obstetrics and midwifery are value-laden, value-producing and value-reproducing practices, values that constitute the social perception of what it means to be a ‘‘good’’ pregnant ...
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Lactivists and midwives demonstrate how to respond unethically to a recommendation that caused unintended harm
What’s the ethical response when a provider learns that a course of ...
Lactivists can’t bear to apologize for the harm they’ve caused
Lactivists are spluttering on Twitter. They’ve been apprised over and over again ...
Lactivism and fundamental attribution error
The lactivist whining continues! This week the Royal College of Midwives reminded ...
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Midwives’ and lactation consultants’ fraught relationship with maternal autonomy
Medical ethicist Susanne Brauer has written: Obstetrics and midwifery are value-laden, value-producing and value-reproducing practices, values that constitute the social perception of what it means to be a ‘‘good’’ pregnant woman and to be a ‘‘good’’ (future) mother. Similarly, professional lactation support is also value-laden, value-producing and value-reproducing. There’s no better example of this behavior […]
The moral case against lactivism and breastfeeding promotion
Last week the Royal College of Midwives took the extraordinary step of reminding its members that every women has the right to bottle feed and that the choice should be suppported and respected. It was an implicit acknowledgement of just how harmful promotion efforts like the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative have become. Babies’ physical health […]
What’s the difference between lactation professionals and infant feeding safety experts?
Lactivist Prof. Amy Brown has a new piece on The Conversation this morning. It’s entitled Breastfeeding is not ‘easy’ – stop telling new mothers that it is and it’s a clumsy effort to deny that lactation professionals have spent the last decade pressuring, shaming and blaming women who can’t or don’t breastfeed. It’s difficult to […]
Lactivists and midwives demonstrate how to respond unethically to a recommendation that caused unintended harm
What’s the ethical response when a provider learns that a course of action she recommended has caused unintended harm? Lactation consultants believe (because they teach and tell each other) that breastfeeding is best for every baby. As a result, they have harmed tens of thousands of babies and mothers for whom breastfeeding will never and […]
Lactivists can’t bear to apologize for the harm they’ve caused
Lactivists are spluttering on Twitter. They’ve been apprised over and over again about the harm that they’ve caused: The epidemic of neonatal hospital readmissions (tens of thousands per year) for dehydration, hypoglycemia and jaundice. The permanent brain injuries and deaths that result. The heartless closing of well baby nurseries to force women to undertake full […]
Lactivism and fundamental attribution error
The lactivist whining continues! This week the Royal College of Midwives reminded its members that women have an absolute right to choose bottle feeding and are entitled to respect for that choice. Why did they do that? I’d like to think it’s because they recognized that the benefits of breastfeeding in industrialized countries are trivial, […]
The mind blowing hypocrisy of lactivist Prof. Amy Brown
Let the lactivist whining begin! I wrote yesterday that the Royal College of Midwives issued a statement of what should have been obvious all along: Bottle feeding is a woman’s right New mothers ‘should not be shamed into breastfeeding’ Bottle feeding mothers’ ‘choice must be respected’ midwives advised Prof. Amy Brown, like most professional lactivists, […]
It’s not the end of the breastfeeding wars, but it’s the end of the beginning
Hallelujah! According to The Independent, Midwives told they must respect mothers who decide not to breastfeed: Mothers who decide not to breastfeed their child must be respected for their choice, midwives are being told. New advice from the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) stresses new mothers should be given appropriate support if they make an […]
What do lactivists and anti-vaccine parents have in common?
“Unvaccinated is the biological norm for human beings. Natural immunity, the sole source of infant/child immunological protection in nature, has evolved as a result of 200 million years of Darwinian pressure to become the perfect defense against disease. When we move away from this biological norm, it is up to us to research the effects […]
New study claiming formula increases obesity has a disabling flaw: an arbitrary designation of infant obesity
The headline, Infant formula could change gut bacteria, contribute to childhood obesity, is alarming. The findings are worrisome: A new study shows that babies who were breastfed had different bacteria environments, or microbiomes, in their guts –- and lower obesity levels as they grew -– than babies who were primarily fed formula… For the study, […]
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
