The Skeptical OB

Yesterday I wrote about the vicious treatment — the “Semmelweis treatment” — of the Fed Is Best Foundation. I explained that lactation professionals demonize Fed Is Best for the same reasons Semmelweis’ colleagues demonized him when he identified that doctors were spreading childbed fever. They can’t bear to acknowledge that they might be harming patients. […]

It was a tragedy in every respect. Dr. Ignác Semmelweis was an obstetric physician in 19th century Vienna. He … was appointed to Vienna General Hospital in 1846. There, he became aware of a puzzling disparity. The hospital offered two free maternity clinics for economically disadvantaged women. First Clinic was run by all-male doctors and […]

You can’t make this stuff up! If Lamaze International and Hannah Dahlen wanted to demonstrate their contempt for the wellbeing of mothers and babies, they couldn’t do better than to promote Robert Biter as a feature speaker at their Australian conference. Nothing illustrates contempt for women quite like featuring a doctor stripped of his license […]

I suspect that Lucy Ruddle, IBCLC feels put upon by me. First I took her to task for her meme that analogized formula to cake. I created this: Then she implied that anyone who recommends formula supplementation for starving babies is trying to “sabotage” breastfeeding mothers. I created this to express my incredulity that a […]

My email inbox is filled with messages from women who hate themselves, blame themselves and are nearly incapacitated by guilt at being unable to breastfeed exclusively. Why? It’s certainly not because breastfeeding in industrialized countries is so beneficial for babies that it has a measurable impact on mortality rates, life expectancy or IQ. Walk into […]

If our ancient foremothers could see Tracy Cassells, PhD, of Evolutionary Parenting (and other parenting “experts” like her) they wouldn’t know whether to laugh or cry. We as humans have evolved in a particular manner, and the parent-child relationship is no different. Children, especially babies, expect certain behaviours from their caregivers and research is starting […]

I was lucky to do my internship and residency at the first hospital to have a Patient’s Bill of Rights, Harvard’s Beth Israel Hospital. The Patient’s Bill of Rights was based on the belief that doctors and nurses owed patients MORE than merely excellent treatment; they owed them compassionate and ethical care. It reflected the […]

I’ve been writing for years about how the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) is harming babies. The incidence of severe dehydration, sometimes accompanied by permanent brain damage, is rising. Also rising is the incidence of skull fractures of babies who fall from their mothers’ hospital beds and smothering deaths when mothers fall asleep while feeding or […]

I write a lot about scientific papers, policy and philosophy around childbirth, breastfeeding and mothering. But papers, policy and philosophical principles aren’t very helpful when you are up at 2 AM crying with exhaustion — trying to breastfeed a baby screaming from hunger — and convinced you are a bad mother. That’s why I’ve created […]

Lactation professionals have been successful in their attempt to “normalize” breastfeeding … and the harm has been incalculable while the benefits have been virtually imperceptible. At this point, breastfeeding is the leading cause of newborn hospital readmission. 1 out of every 71 (!) exclusively breastfed newborns is readmitted to the hospital for complications of breastfeeding, […]